Two institutes of the Polish Academy of Sciences, Space Research Centre and Nicolaus Copernicus Astronomical Center cooperate on the project to build and place in orbit the first Polish scientific satellite. The BRITE (BRight Target Explorer) mission formed by Austria, Canada and Poland will send to space a constellation of six nanosatelites, two from each country. They will be observing star pulsations with fotometric methods gathering data that will verify thermodynamic models of bright, massive stars of our Galaxy, delivering information on their structure, formation and evolution. The first of two Polish satellites, "LEM", will closely resemble its international kin, while the second, "Heweliusz" will carry Polish flavor to space – delivering additional technological experiments. They will use commercial-off-the-shelf components.

Date Published: 7 November 2012
PDF: 10 pages
Proc. SPIE 8454, Photonics Applications in Astronomy, Communications, Industry, and High-Energy Physics Experiments 2012, 84540D (7 November 2012); doi: 10.1117/12.2000424

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 8454:
Photonics Applications in Astronomy, Communications, Industry, and High-Energy Physics Experiments 2012
Ryszard S. Romaniuk, Editor(s)