Pandora Exoplanet Mission Unveils First Engineering Images, Pioneering Low-Cost Exoplanet Science

NASA's Pandora exoplanet mission released its first engineering images, validating a new, low-cost Pioneers Program approach with a two-instrument payload (CODA and the VISDA/NIRDA spectrograph) designed for simultaneous visible and near-infrared exoplanet observations. Launched Jan 11 in a Twilight rideshare, Pandora will monitor about 20 known transiting exoplanets (10 transits each) over roughly a year from a sun-synchronous, high-stability orbit, using these measurements to separate stellar variability from planetary atmospheres and search for water-rich conditions; the Jan 19 images show proper pointing and a functioning NIRDA cryocooler at ~110 K, and Aspera is planned for 2026 under the program's $20 million cost cap.