The Pandora SmallSat: A Low-Cost, High Impact Mission to Study Exoplanets and Their Host Stars

Fuente: arXiv
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Autores principales: Barclay, Thomas, Quintana, Elisa V., Colón, Knicole, Hord, Benjamin J., Mosby, Gregory, Schlieder, Joshua E., Zellem, Robert T., Karburn, Jordan, Simms, Lance M., Heatwole, Peter F., Hedges, Christina L., Dotson, Jessie L., Greene, Thomas P., Foote, Trevor O., Lewis, Nikole K., Rackham, Benjamin V., Morris, Brett M., Gilbert, Emily A., Kostov, Veselin B., Rowe, Jason F., Wiser, Lindsay S., Apai, Dániel
Formato: Preprint
Publicado: 2025
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author Barclay, Thomas
Quintana, Elisa V.
Colón, Knicole
Hord, Benjamin J.
Mosby, Gregory
Schlieder, Joshua E.
Zellem, Robert T.
Karburn, Jordan
Simms, Lance M.
Heatwole, Peter F.
Hedges, Christina L.
Dotson, Jessie L.
Greene, Thomas P.
Foote, Trevor O.
Lewis, Nikole K.
Rackham, Benjamin V.
Morris, Brett M.
Gilbert, Emily A.
Kostov, Veselin B.
Rowe, Jason F.
Wiser, Lindsay S.
Apai, Dániel
author_facet Barclay, Thomas
Quintana, Elisa V.
Colón, Knicole
Hord, Benjamin J.
Mosby, Gregory
Schlieder, Joshua E.
Zellem, Robert T.
Karburn, Jordan
Simms, Lance M.
Heatwole, Peter F.
Hedges, Christina L.
Dotson, Jessie L.
Greene, Thomas P.
Foote, Trevor O.
Lewis, Nikole K.
Rackham, Benjamin V.
Morris, Brett M.
Gilbert, Emily A.
Kostov, Veselin B.
Rowe, Jason F.
Wiser, Lindsay S.
Apai, Dániel
contents The Pandora SmallSat is a NASA flight project aimed at studying the atmospheres of exoplanets -- planets orbiting stars outside our Solar System. Pandora will provide the first dataset of simultaneous, multiband (visible and NIR), long-baseline observations of exoplanets and their host stars. Pandora is an ambitious project that will fly a 0.44 m telescope in a small form factor. To achieve the scientific goals, the mission requires a departure from the traditional cost-schedule paradigm of half-meter-class observatories. Pandora achieves this by leveraging existing capabilities that necessitate minimal engineering development, disruptive and agile management, trusted partnerships with vendors, and strong support from the lead institutions. The Pandora team has developed a suite of high-fidelity parameterized simulation and modeling tools to estimate the performance of both imaging channels. This has enabled a unique bottom-up approach to deriving trades and system requirements. Pandora is a partnership between NASA and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. The project completed its Critical Design Review in October 2023 and is slated for launch into Sun-synchronous, low-Earth orbit in Fall 2025.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2502_09730
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle The Pandora SmallSat: A Low-Cost, High Impact Mission to Study Exoplanets and Their Host Stars
Barclay, Thomas
Quintana, Elisa V.
Colón, Knicole
Hord, Benjamin J.
Mosby, Gregory
Schlieder, Joshua E.
Zellem, Robert T.
Karburn, Jordan
Simms, Lance M.
Heatwole, Peter F.
Hedges, Christina L.
Dotson, Jessie L.
Greene, Thomas P.
Foote, Trevor O.
Lewis, Nikole K.
Rackham, Benjamin V.
Morris, Brett M.
Gilbert, Emily A.
Kostov, Veselin B.
Rowe, Jason F.
Wiser, Lindsay S.
Apai, Dániel
Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics
Earth and Planetary Astrophysics
The Pandora SmallSat is a NASA flight project aimed at studying the atmospheres of exoplanets -- planets orbiting stars outside our Solar System. Pandora will provide the first dataset of simultaneous, multiband (visible and NIR), long-baseline observations of exoplanets and their host stars. Pandora is an ambitious project that will fly a 0.44 m telescope in a small form factor. To achieve the scientific goals, the mission requires a departure from the traditional cost-schedule paradigm of half-meter-class observatories. Pandora achieves this by leveraging existing capabilities that necessitate minimal engineering development, disruptive and agile management, trusted partnerships with vendors, and strong support from the lead institutions. The Pandora team has developed a suite of high-fidelity parameterized simulation and modeling tools to estimate the performance of both imaging channels. This has enabled a unique bottom-up approach to deriving trades and system requirements. Pandora is a partnership between NASA and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. The project completed its Critical Design Review in October 2023 and is slated for launch into Sun-synchronous, low-Earth orbit in Fall 2025.
title The Pandora SmallSat: A Low-Cost, High Impact Mission to Study Exoplanets and Their Host Stars
topic Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics
Earth and Planetary Astrophysics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2502.09730