NASA Selects SpaceX to Launch the Groundbreaking Pandora Mission
NASA has made a significant announcement involving its ambitious Pandora mission, choosing SpaceX, based in Starbase, Texas, to handle the launch services. The goal of the Pandora mission is to explore at least 20 known exoplanets and investigate how the modifications in their host stars can influence our understanding of their atmospheres.
This partnership is part of NASA's Venture-Class Acquisition of Dedicated and Rideshare (VADR) contract for launch services. Under this agreement, the agency can extend fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity awards during a five-year ordering span. The entire value of this contract is estimated to reach a maximum of $300 million across various missions.
The primary objective of the Pandora mission, which has a projected duration of one year, is to ensure that each selected exoplanet is observed 10 times. Each observation session will last for approximately 24 hours, allowing for a comprehensive collection of observations of both the exoplanets and their respective host stars during transit events, which occur when a planet passes in front of its sun-like star.
Central to the mission is an innovative telescope design: a 17-inch (45-centimeter) wide all-aluminum telescope. This state-of-the-art instrument can keenly measure the visible and near-infrared brightness of the host stars and obtain near-infrared spectra of the transiting exoplanets. Such capabilities will enable scientists to distinctly differentiate and analyze signals from both the stars and the planets, thereby enriching the insights gained from NASA's James Webb Space Telescope and future exploratory efforts aimed at identifying habitable worlds, including the anticipated Habitable Worlds Observatory.
Pandora is a collaborative effort led by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, in conjunction with the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California. This mission, alongside other astrophysics-related endeavors, is funded through the Astrophysics Pioneers program from NASA's Astrophysics Division, which invests in missions that utilize smaller, budget-friendly hardware and payloads.
The management of the VADR contract falls under the responsibility of NASA's Launch Services Program, headquartered at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
For those eager to dive deeper into the details and scientific implications of the Pandora mission, further information can be found at NASA's dedicated webpage for the project: NASA Pandora Mission. As the mission progresses, it promises to unveil new dimensions of our understanding of exoplanets and the broader cosmos, paving the way for future explorations in search of life beyond Earth.
This partnership is part of NASA's Venture-Class Acquisition of Dedicated and Rideshare (VADR) contract for launch services. Under this agreement, the agency can extend fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity awards during a five-year ordering span. The entire value of this contract is estimated to reach a maximum of $300 million across various missions.
The primary objective of the Pandora mission, which has a projected duration of one year, is to ensure that each selected exoplanet is observed 10 times. Each observation session will last for approximately 24 hours, allowing for a comprehensive collection of observations of both the exoplanets and their respective host stars during transit events, which occur when a planet passes in front of its sun-like star.
Central to the mission is an innovative telescope design: a 17-inch (45-centimeter) wide all-aluminum telescope. This state-of-the-art instrument can keenly measure the visible and near-infrared brightness of the host stars and obtain near-infrared spectra of the transiting exoplanets. Such capabilities will enable scientists to distinctly differentiate and analyze signals from both the stars and the planets, thereby enriching the insights gained from NASA's James Webb Space Telescope and future exploratory efforts aimed at identifying habitable worlds, including the anticipated Habitable Worlds Observatory.
Pandora is a collaborative effort led by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, in conjunction with the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California. This mission, alongside other astrophysics-related endeavors, is funded through the Astrophysics Pioneers program from NASA's Astrophysics Division, which invests in missions that utilize smaller, budget-friendly hardware and payloads.
The management of the VADR contract falls under the responsibility of NASA's Launch Services Program, headquartered at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
For those eager to dive deeper into the details and scientific implications of the Pandora mission, further information can be found at NASA's dedicated webpage for the project: NASA Pandora Mission. As the mission progresses, it promises to unveil new dimensions of our understanding of exoplanets and the broader cosmos, paving the way for future explorations in search of life beyond Earth.
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