Aboard the SpaceX cluster mission “Twilight,” currently slated for launch on January 11, 2026, there will be three NASA satellites with distinct yet complementary scientific objectives. The most significant among them is “Pandora,” a space telescope designed to examine the atmospheres of exoplanets. Its launch on a Falcon 9 rocket as part of this group flight was announced by NASA way back on February 10, 2025, though the agency has not issued updates since then. Accompanying “Pandora” will be two miniature CubeSat satellites—BlackCAT and SPARCS—which will focus on investigating high-energy processes in the cosmos and stellar activity. The lift-off will occur from Vandenberg Base in California. These undertakings form part of a NASA program aimed at utilizing smaller and more affordable instruments to gather crucial scientific data. All three satellites will operate in low Earth orbit, observing the sky through differing means yet sharing a common aim: to help better grasp the composition of stars, planets, and the signals emanating from other stellar systems. Their gathered information will also allow for more precise analysis of data from missions such as TESS and the James Webb Space Telescope. The “Pandora” satellite is a compact yet capable telescope with a 45-centimeter optical diameter, jointly developed by NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, and other research centers. It is intended to observe at least 20 exoplanets and their host stars during its first year of operation across visible and near-infrared wavelengths. This capability will allow for the determination of elements comprising the atmospheres of distant worlds. “Pandora” will repeatedly observe each system, which will aid scientists in distinguishing signals from a planet’s atmosphere from interference caused by its star’s activity. The telescope also carries an infrared detector originally built as a spare unit for “James Webb.” The BlackCAT (Black Hole Coded Aperture Telescope) CubeSat will study the Universe in the high-energy spectrum and is designed to detect extremely powerful cosmic explosions, such as gamma-ray bursts. Thanks to a novel type of X-ray detector, it will be able to record transient events. The second CubeSat, SPARCS (Star-Planet Activity Research CubeSat), will concentrate on studying small stars, such as red dwarfs, using ultraviolet radiation. It will track stellar flares that may impact the potential habitability of nearby planets. Despite their modest dimensions, both CubeSats are equipped to accomplish significant scientific goals, providing younger scientists and engineers with practical experience on actual space endeavors.
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