SpaceX Launches Falcon 9 with NASA Missions Successfully

Tuesday saw the launch of NASA’s newest space telescope, which will scan the entire sky in a way never possible before. This will provide a comprehensive view of hundreds of millions of galaxies and their shared cosmic glow throughout history.

SPHEREx Mission Goal

The goal of the SPHEREx mission, which stands for Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization and Ices Explorer, is to map the whole sky, examining hundreds of millions of galaxies to piece together the formation and evolution of the universe.

NASA the launch has been delayed multiple times since late February to allow engineers to evaluate the rocket and its components, most recently due to inclement weather at the launch location.

Four surveys of the entire sky will be conducted during the two-year mission of the $488 million SPHEREx observatory. 102 distinct colours, or wavelengths, will be observed by its instruments, more than any other mission, according to NASA.

Since the wavelengths of infrared light are longer than those of visible light, colours in this range are practically invisible to humans. But in space, the infrared light emitted by stars, galaxies, and other astronomical objects contains important information about their chemical makeup, temperature, density, and composition.

Four tiny satellites will monitor the Sun and chart the area where the Sun’s corona gives way to the solar wind as part of the PUNCH (Polarimeter to Unify the Corona and Heliosphere) mission.

What is PUNCH?

In a statement, Joe Westlake, director of NASA’s heliophysics division, explained, “PUNCH is the latest heliophysics addition to the NASA fleet that delivers groundbreaking science every second of every day.” “Launching this mission as a rideshare bolsters its value to the nation by optimizing every pound of launch capacity to maximize the scientific return for the cost of a single launch.”

Space weather, which usually results from plasma explosions known as coronal mass ejections, or CMEs, that occur off the sun, can disrupt GPS signals, cause power grid outages, and endanger astronauts in orbit (and, to add a little bittersweetness, produce dazzling auroras around our planet).