NASA has awarded SpaceX a launch contract for the Pandora spacecraft, a small exoplanet science mission, under the Venture-class Acquisition of Dedicated and Rideshare (VADR) program. The mission is scheduled to launch as early as September 2025 as a rideshare payload.
An artist’s concept of the Pandora mission, seen here without the thermal blanketing that will protect the spacecraft, observing a star and its transiting exoplanet. Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center/Conceptual Image Lab
Pandora is part of NASA’s Astrophysics Pioneers Program, designed to support low-cost, high-risk smallsat missions with ambitious scientific goals. The spacecraft will carry a 45-centimeter optical-infrared telescope to study exoplanet atmospheres and improve the accuracy of exoplanet characterization.
Mission Objectives: Probing Exoplanet Atmospheres
Pandora will use transmission spectroscopy, a technique that analyzes starlight filtering through an exoplanet’s atmosphere during a transit event—when the planet passes in front of its star as seen from Earth. The goal is to detect and distinguish spectral signatures from water vapor, hydrogen, clouds, and hazes in these alien atmospheres.
However, a major challenge in exoplanet spectroscopy is the variability of the host star itself, which can create signals that mimic those of planetary atmospheres. Pandora’s unique dual-wavelength approach will allow simultaneous observation of the star’s optical and infrared emissions, helping scientists separate stellar activity from true atmospheric signals.
Astronomers use the transit technique to study the atmospheres of exoplanets. When a planet passes in front of its host star, causing it to briefly dim, the planet’s atmosphere absorbs and scatters some of that light. Astronomers can measure these effects to then determine the composition of the planet. Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center
“Stars are not uniform,” explained Elisa Quintana, Pandora’s principal investigator at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. “By monitoring both the star’s brightness fluctuations and the planet’s atmospheric signal, Pandora will act as a calibration instrument for exoplanet studies.”
Technical Specifications and Instrumentation
Pandora is an ESPA Grande-class spacecraft, weighing up to 320 kilograms, and is designed to operate in a sun-synchronous orbit (SSO). This orbit ensures consistent lighting conditions, crucial for long-duration exoplanet monitoring.
Telescope and Detectors
Aperture: 45 cm (17.7 inches)
Primary Mirror Material: Aluminum (for lightweight precision)
Detectors:
Visible-light photometer for monitoring stellar brightness variations.
Near-infrared spectrometer to analyze planetary atmospheres.
Infrared sensor originally developed as a spare component for the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST).
The telescope, jointly developed by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) and Corning Specialty Materials, is optimized to continuously monitor target stars for extended periods—an advantage over flagship telescopes like JWST, which have high-demand scheduling constraints.
Science Operations and Observing Strategy
Over its one-year primary mission, Pandora will target 20 known exoplanetary systems, observing each 10 times for 24-hour sessions. Each session will include:
1. Baseline Stellar Monitoring – Capturing the star’s optical brightness and spectral variability.
2. Exoplanet Transit Spectroscopy – Recording how the planet’s atmosphere alters incoming light.
3. Data Calibration & Separation – Distinguishing planetary signals from stellar noise.
This continuous monitoring will provide a comprehensive dataset that complements JWST observations, improving future exoplanet habitability assessments.
Launch and Spacecraft Design
Pandora’s bus and subsystems were completed as of January 2025, keeping the mission on track for launch. It will likely ride aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 as part of the Transporter series, dedicated to deploying multiple small satellites into orbit.
Key spacecraft components include:
Pandora’s spacecraft bus was photographed Jan. 10 within a thermal-vacuum testing chamber at Blue Canyon Technologies in Lafayette, Colorado. The bus provides the structure, power, and other systems that will enable the mission to help astronomers better separate stellar features from the spectra of transiting planets.
Credit: NASA/Weston Maughan, BCT
Spacecraft Bus: Built by Blue Canyon Technologies, handling navigation, data acquisition, and communications.
Attitude Control System (ACS): Ensures stable, long-duration observations with minimal jitter.
Thermal Management System: Protects instruments from temperature fluctuations in space.
Data Processing & Storage: Managed by NASA Ames Research Center, with ground operations at the University of Arizona.
Implications for Future Exoplanet Research
Pandora’s ability to distinguish between stellar noise and planetary signals will directly benefit future missions, including:
-James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) – Improving its ability to detect water and other atmospheric components.
-Upcoming Exoplanet Missions – Providing calibration data for future habitable world searches.
-Ground-based Observatories – Offering reference data to enhance long-term monitoring efforts.
“This is a huge milestone for us,” said Quintana. “Pandora will be a critical tool in advancing our understanding of distant worlds and their atmospheres.”
By leveraging low-cost smallsat technology, Pandora exemplifies NASA’s strategy of pioneering affordable, high-impact space science, potentially paving the way for even more ambitious exoplanet exploration missions.
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