SPHEREx aims to create a 3D map of the entire celestial sky every six months, providing a wide perspective that will complement the work of the more detailed images recorded by James Webb and Hubble.
The ‘astrophysics observatory’ launched alongside four separate satellites, collectively known as PUNCH, that will study how the Sun’s outer atmosphere becomes solar wind.
“Everything in NASA science is interconnected, and sending both SPHEREx and PUNCH up on a single rocket doubles the opportunities to do incredible science in space,” said Nicky Fox, a NASA associate administrator.
SPHEREx will now undergo one month of checks to ensure it’s working properly before beginning its two-year mission. Once fully active, it’s hoped the data will chronicle the history of the universe and help the team search for the key ingredients of life beyond Earth.
“The mission will use a technique called spectroscopy to measure the distance to 450 million galaxies in the nearby universe,” said NASA.
“Their large-scale distribution was subtly influenced by an event that took place almost 14 billion years ago known as inflation, which caused the universe to expand in size a trillion-trillionfold in a fraction of a second after the big bang.
“The mission also will measure the total collective glow of all the galaxies in the universe, providing new insights about how galaxies have formed and evolved over cosmic time.
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“Spectroscopy also can reveal the composition of cosmic objects, and SPHEREx will survey our home galaxy for hidden reservoirs of frozen water ice and other molecules, like carbon dioxide, that are essential to life as we know it.”
NASA’s complementary PUNCH satellites successfully separated from the Falcon 9 around 53 minutes after launch, and ground controllers then successfully established a connection.
It will now begin a 90-day commissioning period where the four satellites will enter the correct orbital formation, and the instruments will be calibrated as a single “virtual instrument”.
“The two missions are designed to operate in a low Earth, Sun-synchronous orbit over the day-night line (also known as the terminator) so the Sun always remains in the same position relative to the spacecraft,” said NASA.
“This is essential for SPHEREx to keep its telescope shielded from the Sun’s light and heat (both would inhibit its observations) and for PUNCH to have a clear view in all directions around the Sun.”
The overall mission is being managed by NASA’s famed Jet Propulsion Laboratory, while the main telescope and spacecraft bus by BAE Systems.
Once active, SPHEREx will circle the Earth 14.5 times a day or around 11,000 times over the course of its two-year mission.
Each orbit will collect imagery of a 360-degree strip of the celestial sky, building up a complete map.
Adam Thorn
Adam is a journalist who has worked for more than 40 prestigious media brands in the UK and Australia. Since 2005, his varied career has included stints as a reporter, copy editor, feature writer and editor for publications as diverse as Fleet Street newspaper The Sunday Times, fashion bible Jones, media and marketing website Mumbrella as well as lifestyle magazines such as GQ, Woman’s Weekly, Men’s Health and Loaded. He joined Momentum Media in early 2020 and currently writes for Australian Aviation and World of Aviation.
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