Pandora satellite launches for exoplanet observation

On Jan. 11, the Pandora SmallSat launched atop a SpaceX rocket from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. Tasked with studying exoplanet systems around small stars, the refrigerator-sized satellite will focus long-term attention on 20 systems during its one-year mission.

"The Pandora project will provide us with valuable information that will allow us to gain further insights into small planets orbiting small stars that we're studying with the James Webb Space Telescope," said Nikole Lewis, associate professor of astronomy in the College of Arts and Sciences and a member of Pandora's science team.

The Pandora SmallSat includes a 0.45-meter telescope, visible-light photometry and near-infrared spectroscopy. It is the first satellite to launch in NASA's Astrophysics Pioneers program - small-scale, low-cost missions designed to train early-career scientists in leadership, including Trevor Foote, Ph.D. '24, a former member of Lewis's research group.

Work by Lewis and her research group on exoplanet atmospheres helped to instigate the Pandora project. For the past 10 years, she and other researchers have been investigating earth-sized planets orbiting small stars - K and M dwarfs. These systems offer advantages for studying planets as they transit in front of their stars, making them prime targets for the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), Lewis said. But they pose challenges, because small stars have lots of flares, hot spots and atmospheric effects that affect signals.

Read the full story on the College of Arts and Sciences website.