SpaceX is targeting a 57-minute launch window that opens at 8:19 a.m. EST (5:19 a.m. PST) Sunday, Jan. 11, from Space Launch Complex 4 East at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California for launch of its Twilight commercial rideshare mission that includes NASA’s Pandora small satellite. A live webcast of this mission will begin about 15 minutes prior to liftoff, watch the launch coverage here.
Pandora will travel to sun-synchronous orbit to study the atmospheres of at least 20 exoplanets and the activity of their host stars. In this orbit, it will pass over the same spot on Earth at roughly the same time each day, with the Sun positioned behind the satellite to minimize light variations.
When planets pass in front of their stars, substances in their atmospheres can imprint chemical fingerprints in the light, including those that scientists consider important for life. But stars can produce some of the same chemical fingerprints, and activity on their surfaces can suppress or magnify signals from planetary atmospheres.
Pandora will use its telescope to collect visible and infrared light from each system 10 times for 24 hours at a time. These long multi-wavelength stares will help scientists tease apart the signals of the planets and stars to determine the exact origins of elements and molecules like water and oxygen.
The near-infrared detector on Pandora is a spare instrument originally developed for NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope. Pandora’s ob …