DarkNESS: A skipper-CCD nanosatellite for dark matter searches

Phoenix Alpine; Samriddhi Bhatia; Ana M. Botti; Brenda A. Cervantes-Vergara; Claudio R. Chavez; Fernando Chierchie; Alex Drlica-Wagner; Rouven Essig; Juan Estrada; Erez Etzion; Roni Harnik; Terry Kim; Michael Lembeck; Qi Lim; Santiago E. Perez; Bernard J. Rauscher; Nathan Saffold; Javier Tiffenberg; Sho Uemura; Hailin Xu

doi:10.1016/j.asr.2025.07.070

DarkNESS: A skipper-CCD nanosatellite for dark matter searches

Phoenix Alpine
, Samriddhi Bhatia
, Ana M. Botti
, Brenda A. Cervantes-Vergara
, Claudio R. Chavez
, Fernando Chierchie
, Alex Drlica-Wagner
, Rouven Essig
, Juan Estrada
, Erez Etzion
, Roni Harnik
, Terry Kim
, Michael Lembeck
, Qi Lim
, Santiago E. Perez
, Bernard J. Rauscher
, Nathan Saffold
, Javier Tiffenberg
, Sho Uemura
, Hailin Xu

Institute for Theoretical Physics

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory
Instituto de Inv.en Ing.Eléctrica “Alfredo C. Desages” (IIIE) CONICET
The University of Chicago
Tel Aviv University
Universidad de Buenos Aires
Instituto de Física de Buenos Aires (IFIBA)
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
Stony Brook University

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

1 Scopus citations

Abstract

The Dark matter Nanosatellite Equipped with Skipper Sensors (DarkNESS) deploys a recently developed skipper-CCD architecture with sub-electron readout noise in low Earth orbit (LEO) to investigate potential signatures of dark matter (DM). The mission addresses two interaction channels: electron recoils from strongly interacting sub-GeV DM and X-rays produced through decaying DM. Orbital observations avoid attenuation that limits ground-based measurements, extending sensitivity reach for both channels. The mission proceeds toward launch following laboratory validation of the instrument. A launch opportunity has been secured through Firefly Aerospace’s DREAM 2.0 program, awarded to the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC). This will constitute the first use of skipper-CCDs in space and evaluate their suitability for low-noise X-ray and single-photon detection in future space observatories.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	4793-4814
Number of pages	22
Journal	Advances in Space Research
Volume	76
Issue number	8
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.asr.2025.07.070
State	Published - Oct 15 2025

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Alpine, P., Bhatia, S., Botti, A. M., Cervantes-Vergara, B. A., Chavez, C. R., Chierchie, F., Drlica-Wagner, A., Essig, R., Estrada, J., Etzion, E., Harnik, R., Kim, T., Lembeck, M., Lim, Q., Perez, S. E., Rauscher, B. J., Saffold, N., Tiffenberg, J., Uemura, S., & Xu, H. (2025). DarkNESS: A skipper-CCD nanosatellite for dark matter searches. Advances in Space Research, 76(8), 4793-4814. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.asr.2025.07.070

@article{fe2f12fccd8d480c9285cc5538ba63b8,

title = "DarkNESS: A skipper-CCD nanosatellite for dark matter searches",

abstract = "The Dark matter Nanosatellite Equipped with Skipper Sensors (DarkNESS) deploys a recently developed skipper-CCD architecture with sub-electron readout noise in low Earth orbit (LEO) to investigate potential signatures of dark matter (DM). The mission addresses two interaction channels: electron recoils from strongly interacting sub-GeV DM and X-rays produced through decaying DM. Orbital observations avoid attenuation that limits ground-based measurements, extending sensitivity reach for both channels. The mission proceeds toward launch following laboratory validation of the instrument. A launch opportunity has been secured through Firefly Aerospace{\textquoteright}s DREAM 2.0 program, awarded to the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC). This will constitute the first use of skipper-CCDs in space and evaluate their suitability for low-noise X-ray and single-photon detection in future space observatories.",

author = "Phoenix Alpine and Samriddhi Bhatia and Botti, \{Ana M.\} and Cervantes-Vergara, \{Brenda A.\} and Chavez, \{Claudio R.\} and Fernando Chierchie and Alex Drlica-Wagner and Rouven Essig and Juan Estrada and Erez Etzion and Roni Harnik and Terry Kim and Michael Lembeck and Qi Lim and Perez, \{Santiago E.\} and Rauscher, \{Bernard J.\} and Nathan Saffold and Javier Tiffenberg and Sho Uemura and Hailin Xu",

note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2025 COSPAR. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights are reserved, including those for text and data mining, AI training, and similar technologies.",

year = "2025",

month = oct,

day = "15",

doi = "10.1016/j.asr.2025.07.070",

language = "English",

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pages = "4793--4814",

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Alpine, P, Bhatia, S, Botti, AM, Cervantes-Vergara, BA, Chavez, CR, Chierchie, F, Drlica-Wagner, A, Essig, R, Estrada, J, Etzion, E, Harnik, R, Kim, T, Lembeck, M, Lim, Q, Perez, SE, Rauscher, BJ, Saffold, N, Tiffenberg, J, Uemura, S & Xu, H 2025, 'DarkNESS: A skipper-CCD nanosatellite for dark matter searches', Advances in Space Research, vol. 76, no. 8, pp. 4793-4814. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.asr.2025.07.070

TY - JOUR

T1 - DarkNESS

T2 - A skipper-CCD nanosatellite for dark matter searches

AU - Alpine, Phoenix

AU - Bhatia, Samriddhi

AU - Botti, Ana M.

AU - Cervantes-Vergara, Brenda A.

AU - Chavez, Claudio R.

AU - Chierchie, Fernando

AU - Drlica-Wagner, Alex

AU - Essig, Rouven

AU - Estrada, Juan

AU - Etzion, Erez

AU - Harnik, Roni

AU - Kim, Terry

AU - Lembeck, Michael

AU - Lim, Qi

AU - Perez, Santiago E.

AU - Rauscher, Bernard J.

AU - Saffold, Nathan

AU - Tiffenberg, Javier

AU - Uemura, Sho

AU - Xu, Hailin

PY - 2025/10/15

Y1 - 2025/10/15

N2 - The Dark matter Nanosatellite Equipped with Skipper Sensors (DarkNESS) deploys a recently developed skipper-CCD architecture with sub-electron readout noise in low Earth orbit (LEO) to investigate potential signatures of dark matter (DM). The mission addresses two interaction channels: electron recoils from strongly interacting sub-GeV DM and X-rays produced through decaying DM. Orbital observations avoid attenuation that limits ground-based measurements, extending sensitivity reach for both channels. The mission proceeds toward launch following laboratory validation of the instrument. A launch opportunity has been secured through Firefly Aerospace’s DREAM 2.0 program, awarded to the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC). This will constitute the first use of skipper-CCDs in space and evaluate their suitability for low-noise X-ray and single-photon detection in future space observatories.

AB - The Dark matter Nanosatellite Equipped with Skipper Sensors (DarkNESS) deploys a recently developed skipper-CCD architecture with sub-electron readout noise in low Earth orbit (LEO) to investigate potential signatures of dark matter (DM). The mission addresses two interaction channels: electron recoils from strongly interacting sub-GeV DM and X-rays produced through decaying DM. Orbital observations avoid attenuation that limits ground-based measurements, extending sensitivity reach for both channels. The mission proceeds toward launch following laboratory validation of the instrument. A launch opportunity has been secured through Firefly Aerospace’s DREAM 2.0 program, awarded to the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC). This will constitute the first use of skipper-CCDs in space and evaluate their suitability for low-noise X-ray and single-photon detection in future space observatories.

UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/105012909429

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DO - 10.1016/j.asr.2025.07.070

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:105012909429

SN - 0273-1177

VL - 76

SP - 4793

EP - 4814

JO - Advances in Space Research

JF - Advances in Space Research

IS - 8

ER -

DarkNESS: A skipper-CCD nanosatellite for dark matter searches

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