NASA’s Pandora satellite and two CubeSats set to launch on SpaceX Falcon 9

NASA’s Pandora small satellite is preparing to launch to low Earth orbit to study exoplanet atmospheres and their stars. Pandora is part of the Twilight rideshare mission with SpaceX and is set to launch aboard the company’s Falcon 9. SpaceX is targeting launch at 8:44 a.m. EST (5:44 a.m.

PST) today from Space Launch Complex 4 East at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. Pandora will examine at least 20 exoplanets previously discovered by missions including NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope, Kepler, and TESS, along with their host stars. It will determine whether a planet’s atmosphere contains hazes, clouds, or water, or whether those signals come from the star by conducting long, continuous observations and simultaneously collecting visible and near-infrared light.

The data Pandora collects will help researchers distinguish between planetary and stellar signals and help interpret measurements from Webb and future missions. Two NASA-sponsored CubeSats will launch with Pandora and other commercial payloads. SPARCS, led by Arizona State University in Tempe and supported by Maverick Space Systems, is a shoebox-sized telescope that will use thermal infrared cameras to study coronal mass ejections on small stars and their impact on exoplanet atmospheres; NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory also participates.

Key Topics

Science, Pandora Satellite, Spacex, Sparcs, Blackcat, Vandenberg