The Pandora SmallSat: Multiwavelength Characterization of Exoplanets and their Host Stars

The NASA Postdoctoral Program (NPP) offers unique research opportunities to highly-talented scientists to engage in ongoing NASA research projects at a NASA Center, NASA Headquarters, or at a NASA-affiliated research institute. These one- to three-year fellowships are competitive and are designed to advance NASA's missions in space science, Earth science, aeronautics, space operations, exploration systems, and astrobiology. This specific opportunity focuses on the Pandora SmallSat, a flight project designed to study the atmospheres of exoplanets. It was selected as part of NASA's Astrophysics Pioneers Program. NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center is home to the Pandora Science Operations Center, and the program seeks a postdoctoral candidate who would contribute to the development and operations of Pandora. The Pandora Science Pipeline is responsible for turning downlinked, uncalibrated data into calibrated images, light curves, and time-series spectra. A successful candidate would be anticipated to contribute to the development of algorithms and methods for maximizing the science return from Pandora. The opportunity also welcomes candidates interested in the EXoplanet Climate Infrared TElescope (EXCITE) experiment, which is a 0.5m infrared spectrograph that flies from a high-altitude balloon. EXCITE's primary science mission is to perform phase-resolved spectroscopy of hot Jupiter-type exoplanets in the near-infrared. Qualifications include a Ph.D. in astronomy, physics, computer science or a related discipline. Prior experience with astronomical software development, exoplanet transmission spectroscopy, atmospheres simulations, cool star astronomy, NIR observational astronomy with HST/JWST, data analysis, Python, and open source coding practices is desirable.