NASA has successfully launched its latest space telescope, SPHEREx, which is specifically designed to map the entire sky in an extraordinary array of colors. The telescope was propelled into orbit aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, departing from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.
The U.S. space agency has stated that this innovative telescope will play a crucial role in elucidating the formation and evolution of galaxies over billions of years, as well as shedding light on the rapid expansion of the universe during its initial moments.
“SPHEREx is really trying to get at the origins of the universe – what happened in those very few first instants after the Big Bang,” remarked SPHEREx instrument scientist Phil Korngut of Caltech. Accompanying SPHEREx were four suitcase-sized satellites that are part of a mission called PUNCH, which is focused on studying the sun.
This launch follows a series of delays due to inclement weather and technical issues with the rocket after the initial launch window opened on February 28.
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Understanding SPHEREx
What is the mission? SPHEREx, which stands for Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization and Ices Explorer, represents a $488 million (EUR477 million approx.) mission. This megaphone-shaped telescope will capture images in every direction around Earth, breaking down the light from billions of cosmic sources—including stars and galaxies—into their fundamental wavelengths to ascertain their composition and distance.
Anticipated discoveries
“We are the first mission to look at the whole sky in so many colours,” stated NASA scientist Jamie Bock. “Whenever astronomers look at the sky in a new way, we can expect discoveries,” Bock further emphasized. The observatory is expected to take six months to complete a comprehensive survey of the entire sky using its infrared capabilities and wide field of view.
Mapping the cosmos
The project aims to collect data on more than 450 million galaxies and will produce a three-dimensional map of the cosmos in 102 distinct colors. Closer to our own Milky Way galaxy, SPHEREx will search for water and other essential ingredients for life within the icy clouds that exist between stars, where new solar systems are born.
In conjunction with SPHEREx, NASA has also launched the PUNCH mission, which seeks to understand how the Sun’s corona transforms into solar wind. This mission employs four small satellites, each comparable in size to a suitcase, to study the sun and its immediate environment.
“Together, they piece together the three-dimensional global view of the solar corona – the sun’s atmosphere – as it turns into the solar wind, which is the material that fills our whole solar system,” explained PUNCH mission scientist Nicholeen Viall.
