After two scrubbed attempts on March 8 and 10, NASA and SpaceX finally launched NASA’s new SPHEREx space telescope aboard a Falcon 9 rocket late on March 11.
SPHEREx, NASA’s newest astrophysics observatory, is designed to investigate and study the origins of the Universe and will map the sky in over 100 different wavelengths.
Its name, short for Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization and Ices Explorer — it’s easy to see why NASA primarily sticks with “SPHEREx” — reflects its scientific objectives. SPHEREx will use sophisticated instruments and filters to image the Universe across diverse spectral channels to study the chemical components of space, including searching for molecules essential to life.
SPHEREx will pick up the mantle left by NASA’s Wide-Field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE), which had a similar goal when it launched in 2009 but did so with a camera that captured just four wavelengths of light (3.4, 4.6, 12, and 22μm). WISE repeatedly mapped the entire sky in infrared light and helped scientists discover thousands of cosmic objects, including comets, exoplanets, and stars.
Astrophysicists will use SPHEREx to study how light emissions from distant galaxies change over time and locate different chemicals, like frozen water, in space.
SPHEREx will capture around 600 photos every day for a planned duration of two years. The hope is that it will map the entire sky four times — once every six months — and help scientists craft a 3D map of the Universe that includes 450 million “nearby” galaxies.
SPHEREx is not the only payload launched into space aboard the Falcon 9 last night. Also aboard the rocket ship was a group of satellites, collectively called PUNCH (Polarimeter to Unify the Corona and Heliosphere). While SPHEREx will be peering off into very distant space, NASA’s PUNCH mission, which comprises four satellites, will be staring at the Sun and mapping its corona in polarized light.
Image credits: Featured image credit SpaceX
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