Reinforcing its role in space science and commercial launches, SpaceX has successfully launched NASA’s Pandora exoplanet mission along with nearly 40 other satellites aboard a Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.
The launch took place on January 11 at 8:44 a.m. EST. The mission, named “Twilight” by SpaceX, deployed its payloads into a dusk-dawn sun-synchronous orbit, which runs along the boundary between day and night on Earth. Satellite deployment began around 1 hour after liftoff and was completed within a 90-minute window.
Pandora, a 716-pound satellite, will operate in orbit for 1 year. Using a 17-inch-wide telescope, it will observe at least 20 known exoplanets as they transit their host stars. These observations help scientists detect small changes in starlight, a technique known as the transit method, which has been used to discover more than 6,000 exoplanets so far.
Beyond detection, Pandora will study exoplanet atmospheres. By analysing light that passes through planetary atmospheres, scientists can identify elements and molecules such as water and hydrogen. The mission also aims to address challenges caused by uneven star surfaces, including bright and dark patches.
“Pandora aims to disentangle the star and planet spectra by monitoring the brightness of the exoplanet’s host star in visible light while simultaneously collecting infrared data,” NASA officials said. “Together, these multiwavelength observations will provide constraints on the star’s spot coverage to separate the star’s spectrum from the planet’s.”
The Twilight mission also carried satellites from commercial operators, including 10 Aether satellites from Kepler Communications and 2 Acadia Earth-imaging radar satellites from Capella Space. The Falcon 9 booster landed back at Vandenberg about 8.5 minutes after launch, completing its 5th mission.
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