Here’s Why NASA Spends $19.5 Million to Place Artificial Star in Orbit

A new $19.5 million NASA project – Landolt Space Mission – will place an artificial “star” in orbit around the Earth. This artificial star will allow scientists to calibrate telescopes and more accurately measure the brightness of stars, both near and far. The mission aims to reveal some secrets of the universe, including the speed of its expansion and evolution of stars.

The mission is named after american astronomer Arlo Landolt, who worked in photometry, he is known for his widely used catalogs of stellar brightness. The mission ground control will be based at George Mason University in the state of Virginia.

The Landolt Space Mission, scheduled for 2029, will launch a light source (artificial star) into orbit at a distance of 35,785 kilometers from the Earth. The object will be invisible for the naked eye, but it will be visible as a star for telescopes back on Earth.

For the first year, it will remain above the USA, as it will be moving at the same speed as the Earth’s rotation.

NASA’s Landolt Mission to Revolutionize Astronomy

This “star” is really a 12U CubeSat – square-shaped miniature satellite (around 20 cm) equipped with eight lasers. It will send a known emission rate of photons (photon flux) back to telescopes on Earth. Since the artificial star has a known emission rate of photons, scientists will be able to compare the brightness of the lasers to the brightness of the stars, developing more precise measurements of brightness.

“The Landolt mission will allow us to re-calibrate the brightnesses of millions of stars” – says Peter Plavchan, Associate Professor of Physics and Astronomy at George Mason University and the Executive Director of George Mason Observatories, in his presentation about the Landolt mission.

Scientists know the universe is expanding, which is measured by calculating the brightness of numerous stars and by their photon flux – number of photons per second they emit. It’s quite a challenge to measure the brightness of stars, as it depends on their distance to Earth, stage of their life circle, and type. 

For new scientific insights about the universe, more accurate measurements are needed. According to Peter Plavchan: “Such measurements can only be achieved by a space-based orbiting artificial star, where the physical photon flux is accurately known. Consequently, Landolt will enable the refinement of dark energy parameters, improve our ability to assess the habitability of terrestrial worlds, and advance fundamental constraints on stellar evolution.”