Thursday, January 16, 2025

NASA's New Pandora SmallSat Mission to Study Exoplanet Atmospheres

NASA's New Pandora SmallSat Mission to Study Exoplanet Atmospheres

Pandora, NASA’s newest exoplanet mission, is one step closer to launch with the completion of the spacecraft bus that will provide the structure, power, and other systems enabling the mission to conduct its work.

Pandora is a small satellite that will provide in-depth studies of at least twenty known planets orbiting distant stars in order to determine the composition of their atmospheres—especially the presence of hazes, clouds, and water. This data will establish a firm foundation for interpreting measurements by NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope and future missions that will search for habitable worlds.

Astronomers view the presence of water as a critical aspect of habitability because water is essential to life as we know it. However, variations in light from a planet's host star can mask or mimic the signal of water. Separating these sources is will be Pandora's task.

Using a novel all-aluminum, 45-centimeter-wide (17 inches) telescope, Pandora’s detectors will capture each star’s visible brightness and near-infrared spectrum at the same time, while also obtaining the transiting planet’s near-infrared spectrum. This combined data will enable the science team to determine the properties of stellar surfaces and cleanly separate star and planetary signals.

Over the course of its year-long prime mission, Pandora will observe at least twenty exoplanets ten times with each one lasting a total of 24 hours. Each observation will include a transit, when the exoplanet passes in front of its star as seen from our perspective. This is when the mission will capture the planet’s spectrum.


Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center
Producer: Scott Wiessinger (eMITS)
Science writers: Francis Reddy (University of Maryland College Park) 
Scientist: Ben Hord (NASA/GSFC)
Scientist: Elisa Quintana (NASA/GSFC)
Animator: Jonathan North (eMITS)
Animator: Chris Smith (KBR)
Duration: 1 minute, 29 seconds
Release Date: Jan. 16, 2025

#NASA #Space #Astronomy #Science #SmallSat #Stars #StarSystems #Exoplanets #ExoplanetTransits #PlanetaryAtmospheres #Astrobiology #Habitability #Astrophysics #NASAPandoraMission #PandoraMission #SpaceExploration #MilkyWayGalaxy #Universe #GSFC #UnitedStates #STEM #Education #Animation #HD #Video

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