The Pandora exoplanet mission returns its first engineering images from space. A new mission promises to 'open the box' on exoplanet science. Scientists and engineers recently released the first engineering images from the Pandora exoplanet survey mission. The pictures represent the first ever images from a NASA Astrophysics Pioneers Program mission. Established in 2020, the program looks to test the feasibility of small low cost missions designed to address key questions in astronomy and astrophysics. Pandora launched from Vandenberg Space Force Base on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket on January 11th of this year, along with SPARCS and BlackCAT. The launch was part of the Twilight rideshare initiative . The smallsat was developed for NASA in partnership with the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) along with Blue Canyon Technologies, and Corning Incorporated. A test calibration image from the NIRDA instrument. The inset shows the dispersal of light into vertical lines. Credit: LLNL.…