Exploring New Worlds in Space: From Clay Tablets to the Pandora Space Telescope and Beyond

Modern science is opening a fascinating window on worlds around other stars. Ground- and space-based telescopes are now discovering new planets at an accelerating pace. Careful, high-precision observations now provide important clues on the atmospheric compositions of many extrasolar planets. Apai and colleagues completed the assembly, integration, and testing of NASA’s latest exoplanet telescope, Pandora, which is now scheduled for launch in January 2026. In this talk, Dr. Apai will review the search for new worlds in the solar neighborhood, and report on the goals and progress on Pandora. He will also explore the potential of the Nautilus Deep Space Observatory, with its constellation of large-diameter, lightweight space telescopes that offers a bold vision for the future of exoplanet exploration.

Biography:

Dániel Apai is Professor of Astronomy, Planetary Sciences, and Optical Sciences at The University of Arizona. His primary research interests lie in the fields of exoplanets, astrobiology, and innovative optical systems and architectures for space observatories. Dr. Apai earned his Ph.D. in Astrophysics from Heidelberg University. He worked in the Space Telescope Science Institute’s Science Policy Group on the Hubble Space Telescope mission before joining the University of Arizona faculty in 2011. At UA, Dr. Apai leads the NASA-funded Alien Earths astrobiology project that focuses on understanding the formation and habitability of nearby planetary systems. He leads a team that characterizes exoplanet and brown dwarf atmospheres, with particular emphasis on understanding the connections between the properties and evolution of clouds and atmospheric circulation. Dr. Apai is leading the Nautilus Deep Space Observatory (NDSO) concept, and he is co-leading the technology development program that enables NDSO’s

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