NASA's Pandora Mission Embarks on Study of Exoplanets and Host Stars

NASA's latest exoplanet initiative, Pandora, the inaugural satellite launched under the agency's Astrophysics Pioneers program, has commenced its unique observations of celestial bodies beyond our solar system and the stars they orbit. The mission aims to thoroughly analyze the atmospheric composition of at least 20 exoplanets, identifying the presence of hazes, clouds, and water.

"Pandora's data will significantly enhance our understanding of planets and their parent stars, as we currently lack certainty regarding how stellar light influences measurements of exoplanet atmospheres," stated Elisa Quintana, Pandora's principal investigator at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. "The Pandora spacecraft and its comprehensive observation plan were designed to address this critical issue."

The mission's findings are poised to establish a robust foundation for interpreting data from NASA's James Webb Space Telescope and future observatories dedicated to discovering habitable worlds. Notably, Pandora's near-infrared detector is a spare component originally developed for the Webb telescope.

"The spacecraft is functioning optimally, and all instruments are performing beyond expectations," commented Jordan Karburn, Pandora's deputy project manager at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. "The diligent efforts of our team throughout the commissioning phase have culminated in our readiness to commence scientific operations with confidence."

Launched into low Earth orbit on January 11, Pandora is an ambitious SmallSat funded by NASA’s Astrophysics Pioneers program. These missions are designed to tackle profound cosmic questions through rapid, cost-effective initiatives that accommodate a higher degree of risk.

Pandora distinguishes itself through three key features: it houses a novel all-aluminum telescope approximately 18 inches (45 centimeters) in diameter; it will simultaneously study planets and their host stars in both visible and infrared light; and it will conduct prolonged observations of targets, extending beyond the capabilities of flagship observatories like Webb.

Telescopes can analyze a planet's atmosphere when it transits, or passes in front of, its star from our viewpoint. During this transit, starlight grazes the planet's atmosphere, carrying chemical signatures that reveal its composition. Astronomers detect these signatures as dips in brightness at specific wavelengths.

However, our instruments also capture light from the entire star. Stellar surfaces are not uniform, exhibiting brighter areas called faculae and cooler regions akin to sunspots, which can change in size and position as the star rotates.

"Water is among the most crucial molecules for understanding the composition and physical conditions of an exoplanet atmosphere," explained Benjamin Rackham, a team member at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. "However, stellar surface features can obscure the water signal we seek. Pandora is engineered to disentangle signals from both the planet and the star, enabling more accurate planetary characterization and paving the way for studying potentially life-supporting planets."

Pandora's telescope, a joint development by Livermore and Corning Specialty Materials, along with its detectors, form the core of the mission. These detectors will simultaneously capture the star's brightness in visible light and its near-infrared spectrum, while also obtaining a near-infrared spectrum from the planet during transits. Over its primary one-year mission, Pandora will observe at least 20 exoplanets 10 times each, with a continuous 24-hour observation period per target, including at least one transit.

"Pandora's strength lies in its capacity for extended multi-wavelength observations, a feat that high-demand flagship missions like Webb cannot routinely achieve," noted Knicole Colón, the mission's project scientist at NASA Goddard. "The synergy between Pandora and Webb data will uniquely empower scientists to characterize stellar surfaces and precisely separate stellar and planetary signals."

The Pandora mission is led by NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, with Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory managing project and engineering. Corning manufactured Pandora's telescope, developed collaboratively with Livermore, which also created the imaging detector assemblies, control electronics, and supporting subsystems. NASA Goddard provided the infrared sensor. Blue Canyon Technologies supplied the spacecraft bus, integration, testing, and mission operations support. NASA's Ames Research Center handles the mission's data processing. Pandora's science data is publicly accessible through the NASA Exoplanet Archive, managed by IPAC at the California Institute of Technology. The University of Arizona leads mission operations and contributes to the science program, with numerous universities supporting the science team.

For further details on the Pandora mission, visit: https://science.nasa.gov/mission/pandora/