In this photo from early January 2026, teams prepare to encapsulate NASA’s Pandora small satellite, NASA-sponsored Star-Planet Activity Research CubeSat (SPARCS), and the Black Hole Coded Aperture Telescope (BlackCAT) CubeSat, inside a SpaceX Falcon 9 payload fairing.
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying NASA’s Pandora small satellite lifted off at 5:44 a.m. PST Sunday, Jan. 11, from Space Launch Complex 4 East at Vandenberg Space Force Base located on California’s central coast.
During its initial year, Pandora will provide an in-depth study of at least 20 known planets orbiting distant stars to determine the composition of their atmospheres — especially the presence of hazes, clouds, and water.
Image credit: SpaceX
在这张拍摄于2026年1月上旬的照片中，团队正准备将NASA潘多拉小型卫星、NASA资助的恒星—行星活动研究立方体卫星（SPARCS）以及黑洞编码孔径望远镜（BlackCAT）封装进SpaceX猎鹰9号火箭的有效载荷整流罩内。
搭载NASA的潘多拉小型卫星的SpaceX猎鹰9号火箭于1月11日星期日凌晨5点44分（PST）从加利福尼亚州中部海岸的范登堡太空军基地东4号航天发射台（SLC-4E）升空。
在任务的首年，潘多拉卫星将对至少20颗已知的系外行星开展深入观测，以确定其大气成分，重点关注霾、云以及水的存在情况。
图片来源: SpaceX
