A small satellite developed by researchers at the University of Colorado Boulder’s Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP) that is preparing to launch this week will be carrying innovative technology to investigate some of astronomy’s biggest questions about the early universe and how stars and galaxies shaped its evolution.
Led by LASP astrophysicist Brian Fleming, NASA’s SPRITE (Supernova Remnants and Proxies for ReIonization Testbed Experiment) mission will also serve as a demonstration of technologies that could fly on next-generation space telescopes.
Slightly larger than a toaster oven, the SmallSat will carry a first-of-its-kind instrument for astrophysics — a far-ultraviolet imaging spectrograph that combines imaging and spectroscopy capabilities across a broader range of far-ultraviolet wavelengths than ever before.
“The goal is to create a picture of the galaxy at many different wavelengths that allows us to study how energy and matter move through a galaxy and how they are distributed within it,” Fleming said. “We’ll study massive stars being born, massive stars dying, and ionizing radiation escaping into the intergalactic medium.”
Scientists are still working to understand how that radiation escapes from galaxies and spreads into the vast space between them, a process they believe played a critical role in shaping the early universe. “This is an important process because we know that the gas is ionized, but we’ve never fully determined how it became ionized,” Fleming said.
Galaxies with massive stars that produce intense radiation capable of ionizing hydrogen are the suspected source, but detecting the escaping radiation has been difficult. The Hubble Space Telescope has successfully detected a number of these galaxies, but Hubble is limited to observing very distant galaxies. At such distances, vast objects appear scarcely larger than a single dot of light, so Hubble can’t tell which parts the radiation is escaping from.
“Up until now, most observatories have only been able to observe individual points. You see a galaxy with many different star-forming regions and streaks of dust and you can only focus on one location, but the neighboring region might be completely different even though they look the same in a photograph,” Fleming said. “Obtaining spectroscopy of that spatial structure is the goal here and that’s something that has only recently become possible on the ground in visible wavelengths on major observatories.”
SPRITE aims to expand those observations—from orbit and in far-ultraviolet wavelengths—by surveying large areas of nearby galaxies. “Even though it is 100 times smaller than Hubble, SPRITE is designed to be extremely sensitive so it can make these same measurements,” Fleming said.
Beyond its scientific mission, SPRITE will also serve as a technology demonstration platform for advanced mirror coatings and detectors that are being considered for NASA’s future Habitable Worlds Observatory, a flagship mission planned for the late 2030s. The mission will mark the first time those advanced coatings have been used in orbit.
Training the next generation
The mission has also proved to be a training ground for many students and early career professionals who have played a significant role from development through launch preparations.
Valerie Wong, a fifth-year graduate student in Astrophysical & Planetary Sciences (APS) at CU Boulder, serves as SPRITE’s student science lead. Her work has included mission planning, target selection, instrument validation, and preparations for the scientific analyses that will begin once the spacecraft reaches orbit.
“Working on SPRITE has given me hands-on experience translating astrophysical science questions into practical observing requirements,” Wong said, who recently published a paper on SPRITE’s capabilities in the Journal of Astronomical Telescopes, Instruments, and Systems.
She is particularly excited about using the spacecraft to understand why ionizing radiation escapes some galaxies more easily than others. This would help scientists better understand a time early in the history of the cosmos called the “Epoch of Reionization”—a period lasting hundreds of millions of years when light from the first stars and galaxies ionized the hydrogen gas between galaxies, transforming the universe from opaque to transparent to ultraviolet light.
“These observations can help us better understand the physical mechanisms that allow ionizing radiation to escape from galaxies and provide insight into the types of galaxies and processes that may have contributed to the reionization of the early universe,” Wong said.
Mattie Bowen, a sixth-year graduate student in APS and the student instrument science lead, has worked on the SPRITE mission since her first day of graduate school in 2021. As part of her dissertation, she’ll be using SPRITE’s observations to create some of the most detailed far-ultraviolet spectroscopic maps of nearby galaxies to date.
“From installing the first bolts on the flight instrument to torquing the final ones on the spacecraft before delivery, it’s been an incredible experience to be a part of SPRITE for so many stages of its development,” Bowen said. “I consider myself very lucky to have been a part of it, especially now, as we’re finally going to see our years of hard work launch into orbit.”
After launch, the LASP SmallSat Mission Operations team, including graduate student Zack Goldberg, the SPRITE operations lead, will commission the spacecraft and oversee daily operations during the two-year primary mission.
By Sara Pratt, LASP Senior Communications Specialist
Founded a decade before NASA, the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics at the University of Colorado Boulder (LASP) is revolutionizing human understanding of the cosmos. LASP is deeply committed to inspiring and educating the next generation of space explorers. From the first exploratory rocket measurements of Earth’s upper atmosphere to trailblazing observations of every planet in the solar system, LASP continues to build on its remarkable history with a nearly $1 billion portfolio of new research and engineering programs.
Editor’s note: This release was updated on Sept. 30, 2026.
