Pandora Telescope Set to Reveal Secrets of Faraway Worlds by Watching Their Stars
NASA's Pandora, a 17-inch orbital telescope launched on a SpaceX Falcon 9, will hunt for exoplanets by watching starlight for transits in infrared and visible light. In a year-long mission in a Sun-synchronous orbit, it will observe at least 20 exoplanets and their host stars, spending 24 hours per target and revisiting each star ten times to separate planetary signals from starspot noise and refine atmospheric measurements for molecules like water vapor and clouds, potentially edging closer to detecting signs of life.