NASA has launched the Pandora satellite, a new space mission designed to help scientists determine whether chemical signatures detected around distant worlds originate from exoplanet atmospheres or from their host stars.
Pandora lifted off on Jan. 11 aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, joining ongoing efforts to better interpret data gathered from thousands of planets discovered beyond the solar system. According to NASA, missions such as the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) have identified more than 6,000 exoplanets, but questions remain over the source of molecules detected during observations. As the mission description notes, Pandora will help determine “whether detected molecules are coming from exoplanets’ atmosphere or from their host stars.”
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The satellite carries a 17-inch all-aluminum telescope capable of collecting visible and near-infrared light. Pandora will observe each target planet and its star up to 10 times, with each observation lasting about 24 hours. These extended viewing periods are intended to capture starlight before, during and after a planetary transit, when an exoplanet passes in front of its star.
By repeatedly observing these transits, Pandora aims to separate signals produced by the planet’s atmosphere from variations caused by stellar activity. NASA said the approach will allow scientists to better isolate atmospheric signatures and reduce uncertainty in earlier and future measurements.
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Pandora is the first mission dedicated to an in-depth study of starlight filtered through exoplanet atmospheres. During its first year of operations, it is expected to examine at least 20 exoplanets and their host stars, providing data that will help refine observations from missions such as Kepler and the James Webb Space Telescope. The Falcon 9 launch also carried the BlackCAT and SPARCS CubeSats, which will study high-energy cosmic events and low-mass stars, respectively.