Do habitable exoplanets exist that possess life as we know it? Scientists have pondered this longstanding question ever since the first exoplanet was confirmed in the mid-1990s, and this will be the goal of NASA’s upcoming Pandora mission, which is due for launch in the second half of 2025. In preparation for its launch, engineers recently finished assembly of the spacecraft bus, which will house the primary systems of the spacecraft, including its power.
"This is a huge milestone for us and keeps us on track for a launch in the fall," said Dr. Elisa Quintana, who is the principal investigator for Pandora at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, although the mission operations center for Pandora will be located at the University of Arizona (U of A) Space Institute. "The bus holds our instruments and handles navigation, data acquisition and communication with Earth – it's the brains of the spacecraft."
The primary science objectives for Pandora will be to analyze the atmospheres of 20 confirmed exoplanets during the science operations phase of the mission, which is slated to last approximately one year. This will be accomplished when the exoplanet passes in front of its parent star, known as a transit, resulting in light passing through the exoplanet’s atmosphere which Pandora will analyze for the presence of water, hazes, and clouds.
Artist’s rendition of NASA’s Pandora spacecraft. (Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center/Conceptual Image Lab)
While analyzing exoplanetary atmospheres from transits is not new, the use of a satellite as small as Pandora, also known as a SmallSat, is a new method for NASA to find life beyond Earth using low-budget missions with Pandora costing approximately $20 million. For context, NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope cost around $10 billion to conduct the same exoplanetary science.
"Although smaller and less sensitive than Webb, Pandora will be able to stare longer at the host stars of extrasolar planets, allowing for deeper study," said Dr. Daniel Apai, who is a Pandora co-investigator and a professor of astronomy and planetary sciences at the U of A. "Better understanding of the stars will help Pandora and its 'big brother,' the James Webb Space Telescope, disentangle signals from stars and their planets."
What exoplanet science will Pandora uncover in the coming years and decades? Only time will tell, and this is why we science!
As always, keep doing science & keep looking up!
Sources: NASA, EurekAlert!, University of Arizona