The Pandora SmallSat is a NASA flight project designed to study the atmospheres of exoplanets. Transmission spectroscopy of transiting exoplanets provides our best opportunity to identify the makeup of planetary atmospheres in the coming decade, and is a key science driver for HST and JWST. Stellar photospheric inhomogeneity due to star spots, however, has been shown to contaminate the observed spectra in these high-precision measurements. Pandora will address the problem of stellar contamination by collecting long-duration photometric observations sampled over a stellar rotation period with a visible-light channel and simultaneous spectra with a near-IR channel. These simultaneous multiwavelength observations will constrain star spot covering fractions of exoplanet host stars, enabling star and planet signals to be disentangled in transmission spectra to then reliably determine exoplanet atmosphere compositions. Pandora will observe exoplanets with sizes ranging from Earthsize to Jupiter-size and host stars spanning mid-K to late-M spectral types. Pandora was selected in early 2021 as part of NASA’s inaugural Astrophysics Pioneers Program. Herein, we present an overview of the mission, including the science objectives, operations, the observatory, science planning, and upcoming milestones as we prepare for launch readiness in 2025.
Specreduce is an AstroPy-coordinated python package whose goal is to be a toolbox of functions and utilities that are relevant to the reduction of spectroscopic data. It is largely focused on optical/IR spectroscopy where the raw data consists of an image projected from a spectrograph onto a 2D imaging detector. The way the spectral and spatial information is encoded into these 2D images can be quite complex and varied (e.g. multi-object vs multi-fiber vs integral field spectroscopy). Methods and algorithms for handling this variety of data have been implemented across many previous and existing data pipelines. Specreduce aims to collect these best practices into a common, shared space that facilitates more collaboration and easier development of future spectroscopic pipelines.
Pandora is a low-cost space telescope designed to measure the composition of distant transiting planets. The Pandora observatory is designed with the capability of measuring precision photometry simultaneously with nearinfrared spectroscopy, enabling scientists to disentangle stellar activity from the subtle signature of a planetary atmosphere. The broad-wavelength coverage will provide constraints on the spot and faculae covering fractions of low-mass exoplanet host stars and the impact of these active regions on exoplanetary transmission spectra. Pandora will subsequently identify exoplanets with hydrogen- or water-dominated atmospheres, and robustly determine which planets are covered by clouds and hazes. Pandora observations will also contribute to the study of transit timing variations and phase curve photometry. With a launch readiness date of early-2025, the Pandora mission represents a new class of low-cost space missions that will achieve out-of-this-world science.
KEYWORDS: James Webb Space Telescope, Near infrared, Atmospheric modeling, Point spread functions, Stars, Planets, Exoplanets, Atmospheric sciences, Sensors, Spectroscopy, Modeling and simulation
Pandora is a SmallSat mission, designed to study the atmospheres of exoplanets using transmission spectroscopy and to investigate the impact that stellar contamination and variability has on observing the spectra of these worlds. Pandora’s initial science operation lifetime is one year, so optimizing the science return is critical. Here we present two tools created to assist in the design process. The first is a 2-D spectrum simulator being developed to help refine target selection, optimize observation strategies, and assist in the creation of a data reduction pipeline. The second is a pseudo-retrieval framework that provides a quantifiable method for comparing potential targets against a handful of exoplanetary atmospheric parameters important to the Pandora mission. Preliminary results show Pandora will place tighter constraints on atmospheric properties like water abundance compared to HST and answering its mission objectives will help to inform targets for missions like JWST.
We detail the use of Engineered Diffusers to achieve precision ground-based photometry for exoplanet transit observations. These diffusers are inexpensive, easily scalable, and suitable for use on telescopes large and small to achieve some of the highest precision photometry from the ground. We provide updates on our ongoing ground-based diffuser-assisted transit follow-up program and detail key ways to incorporate diffusers in different telescopes.
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