SpaceX will launch NASA’s next exoplanet mission Sunday morning (Jan. 11), and you can watch the action live.
A hawk 9 The rocket carried about 40 payloads, including NASA’s Pandora exoplanet Satellite to be launched from California Vandenberg Space Force Base During a 57-minute window that opens at 8:19 a.m. EST (1319 GMT and 5:19 a.m. local California time).
During its year-long orbital mission, the 716-pound (325-kilogram) Pandora will study at least 20 known exoplanets using a 17-inch-wide (45-centimeter) telescope, which it will train on the worlds from the satellite’s perspective as they “transit” or cross the face of their host stars.
Such transits cause a slight dip in the brightness of the host star, which exoplanet hunters have used to great advantage: most Over 6,000 alien planets We know that it has been discovered through the “transit method”.
Transits also allow astronomers to characterize known exoplanets, particularly their atmospheres. Different elements and molecules absorb light at specific wavelengths, so the spectrum of starlight passing through the atmosphere can be studied. reveal a lot about the structure of that environment,
However, such a task is complicated by stellar complexity. The surfaces of stars are not uniform; They often show patches of varying brightness, such as sunspot He tarnishes our own star. If all goes according to plan, Pandora will help astronomers account for such complexity.
“Pandora’s goal is to resolve star and planet spectra by monitoring the brightness of the exoplanet’s host star in visible light, as well as collecting infrared data,” NASA officials wrote in an article. mission statement“Together, these multiwavelength observations will provide constraints on spot coverage of the star to separate the star’s spectrum from that of the planet,”
Agency officials said Pandora will focus on planets dominated by water or hydrogen.
The other three dozen or so satellites going on the Twilight mission are a diverse group. These include Kepler Communications’ 10 Aether spacecraft and Capella Space’s two advanced new spacecraft Acadia Earth-imaging radar satellite.
SpaceX is no stranger to rideshare missions like Twilight. To date, the company has launched 15 such flights in its Transporter series and four through a separate program known as Bandwagon.
Twilight will mark the fifth liftoff for this particular Falcon 9 first stage. If all goes according to plan, the booster will land back at Vandenberg about 8.5 minutes after liftoff.
