NASA has chosen SpaceX to launch the Pandora mission. It will study the atmospheres of extrasolar worlds.
The Pandora mission was developed through the Astrophysics Pioneers program. Within its framework, NASA funds low-cost missions (with a budget of up to $20 million) designed to solve specialized scientific problems.
Pandora is a small satellite that will be placed into a sun-synchronous orbit. Its main scientific instrument is an innovative 45-centimeter telescope with optical and infrared detectors. The purpose of Pandora is to study extrasolar worlds. The spacecraft will observe 20 stars that have confirmed transiting exoplanets.
When an exoplanet makes a transit, starlight passes through its atmosphere. By comparing the transit spectrum with the light spectrum of the star itself, astronomers can determine what chemical elements and compounds are present. Pandora will search for exoplanets with atmospheres dominated by hydrogen or water.
It’s not the easiest task. If a star has particularly dark or bright regions, like spots on our Sun, they can make the star’s spectrum change over time in ways that mimic or suppress features of the planet’s spectrum. To solve this problem, Pandora will track the star’s brightness in visible light while simultaneously collecting data in the infrared.These multi-wavelength observations will separate the spectra and provide a glimpse into the atmosphere of extrasolar worlds.
Pandora is scheduled for launch in September 2025, it will travel to space as a payload on a Falcon 9 rocket. The instrument is designed for a nominal service life of 12 months. The data collected by Pandora will help complement the observations of the James Webb Telescope, as well as be useful in the design of next-generation space observatories such as HWO (Habitable Worlds Observatory).
