A small NASA exoplanet probe now has a ride to Earth orbit.
The agency announced on Monday afternoon (Feb. 10) that it has picked SpaceX to launch Pandora, a 716-pound (325-kilogram) satellite designed to help scientists better understand how our understanding of exoplanetsโ atmospheres are affected by changes in their host stars.
Pandora will lift off atop a Falcon 9 rocket no earlier than this fall, according to NASA officials.
Pandora will head to low Earth orbit. Once there, the satellite will observe at least 20 known transiting exoplanets โ worlds that cross the face of their parent star from the telescopeโs perspective. It will observe these planets 10 separate times, staring at them for 24 hours on each occasion.
Related: Bizarre alien planet has layered atmosphere of vaporized metals
โThe satellite will use an innovative 17-inch (45-centimeter)-wide all-aluminum telescope to simultaneously measure the visible and near-infrared brightness of the host star and obtain near-infrared spectra of the transiting planet,โ NASA officials said in Mondayโs statement.
โThis will allow scientists to cleanly separate star and planetary signals, knowledge that will enhance observations from NASAโs James Webb Space Telescope and future missions searching for habitable worlds, like the agencyโs Habitable Worlds Observatory,โ they added.
The SpaceX selection was made via NASAโs Venture-Class Acquisition of Dedicated and Rideshare (VADR) launch services contract.
โThis contract allows the agency to make fixed-price indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity awards during VADRโs five-year ordering period, with a maximum total value of $300 million across all contracts,โ NASA officials wrote.
Pandora wonโt be the first NASA exoplanet probe that SpaceX launches. The agencyโs TESS (Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite) lifted off atop a Falcon 9 in April 2018.