A new era in exoplanet research is underway as the University of Arizona-led Pandora satellite has successfully launched into orbit, where it will study distant planets and their host stars with unprecedented precision.

The small satellite, part of NASA’s Astrophysics Pioneers program, will observe at least 20 known exoplanets over extended periods, aiming to answer a persistent challenge in astronomy: how to distinguish signals from a planet’s atmosphere from interference caused by its star.

For Daniel Apai, a professor of astronomy and planetary sciences at the UA and dually the co-investigator on the mission and the Exoplanet Science Working Group lead, the project represents years of research coming full circle.

“This really started with a scientific problem,” Apai said. “We realized that […] the method that everybody has been using to characterize opine atmospheres has a noise source in it; that was [previously] not appreciated fully. And that noise source was the star, the star that the planet is orbiting, it’s active, it’s changing all the time, has explosions and sometimes big explosions. And those basically introduce a noise source.”

That realization came roughly a decade ago, when Apai and his research group identified how stellar activity — including flares and chemical signatures — could mimic or obscure signals from a planet’s atmosphere. In some cases, what appeared to be water vapor on a planet could actually originate from the star behind it.

“We showed that sometimes the signal attributed to a planet is actually coming from the star,” Apai said. “That’s a major issue, especially when we’re trying to understand which planets might be habitable.”

The group published papers showing this effect and predicted that it would be a limiting factor for the James Webb Telescope. It drew the attention of NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, which was developing a concept for a small, rapidly deployable space telescope. The collaboration ultimately led to Pandora. It was successfully launched on Jan. 11. 

Now in orbit after launching aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, Pandora is currently in its commissioning phase. Full science operations are expected to begin soon. Unlike larger observatories such as the James Webb Space Telescope or the now-retired Kepler Space Telescope, Pandora is designed specifically to observe both stars and planets together over time.

Kepler discovered thousands of exoplanets by detecting transits — small dips in starlight when planets pass in front of stars – but it couldn’t characterize atmospheres. The James Webb Space Telescope can analyze atmospheric composition by splitting light into wavelengths and detecting molecular signatures.

However, it cannot always distinguish whether signals come from the planet or the star. Pandora addresses this by continuously monitoring the star over long periods. It observes stars about 10 times over months, tracking changes like flares and rotation.

“This allows us to understand stellar variability and separate it from planetary signals,” Apai said. “While Pandora is smaller and less sensitive than JWST, its strength is in long-term monitoring and distinguishing stellar noise from planetary data.”

The satellite will repeatedly monitor each target star, in some cases for hundreds of hours. This allows it to capture both visible and infrared light simultaneously. This long-term approach allows scientists to track stellar rotation, flares and surface activity, building a clearer picture of how stars influence observations. Selecting the mission’s targets was no simple task. Researchers narrowed more than 1,000 potential exoplanets down to just 20.

“We started with over a thousand candidates, narrowed it down to about 100 and then selected 20,” Apai said. “A team of about 25 scientists evaluated them based on scientific value. We chose planets that are individually interesting and also useful as a group; for comparing different star types, planet sizes and activity levels. This allows us to identify trends and dependencies across the sample.”

While more than 6,000 exoplanets have already been discovered, scientists explain the next step is not just finding them but understanding them.

“The biggest thrust in the field is to try to find planets that are suitable for supporting life.. habitable. The best example we have, really, the only example we have is Earth. So we increasingly are trying to find plans that are more and more similar to ours,” Apai said. “We are not quite there yet […] and that’s where Pandora comes in.”

Pandora’s findings could lay the groundwork for future missions focused on Earth-like planets.

“If we can remove this stellar noise problem, it opens the door to studying much smaller planets, more similar to Earth,” Apai said.

Beyond its scientific goals, the mission also represents a shift in how space research is conducted. As part of NASA’s Pioneers program, Pandora emphasizes faster development timelines and greater involvement from early-career scientists.

“Traditional missions can take 10 to 25 years,” Apai said. “Here, students can see the entire process […] from an idea on a whiteboard to a spacecraft in orbit […] in just a few years.”

The UA also plays a key operational role, hosting the mission’s control center, where teams will send commands and interpret incoming data. The data will be made publicly available, allowing scientists around the world to contribute to the research.

“The data will be accessible to anyone,” Apai said. “It will be combined with observations from other telescopes, both in space and on the ground, to give us a more complete understanding of these systems.”

As Pandora begins its observations, researchers are hopeful it will not only refine current methods but also shape the future of space exploration.

“If we succeed,” Apai said, “We can build larger, more capable missions that take this approach even further.”

For the UA, the mission marks a significant milestone and a stepping stone toward expanded leadership in future space initiatives.

“This shows that universities can not only contribute to missions but actually lead and operate them,” Apai said. “That’s an exciting direction for the future.”

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