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SPHEREx Mission
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NASA is tentatively set to launch its new megaphone-shaped space telescope on Friday, February 28, aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.
About SPHEREx Mission
- The Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization and Ices Explorer (SPHEREx) is a NASA space telescope set for a two-year mission to survey the sky in optical and near-infrared light.
- Though infrared light is invisible to the human eye, it holds crucial information about the formation of galaxies, cosmic history, and life-forming molecules.
Surveying the Universe in Unprecedented Detail
- SPHEREx will study over 450 million galaxies across cosmic history, capturing data on both nearby and distant galaxies, some so far that their light has taken 10 billion years to reach Earth.
- The telescope will survey the entire sky every six months, creating a map with 102 infrared colour bands, providing higher colour resolution than any previous all-sky maps.
- It will complement other major telescopes like the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) by offering a broader survey, while JWST focuses on specific regions of space in detail.
Unraveling the Mystery of Cosmic Inflation
- SPHEREx will help scientists study cosmic inflation, a rapid expansion of the universe that occurred 14 billion years ago, right after the Big Bang.
- It will use spectroscopic imaging to determine the 3D positions of galaxies and analyse the universe’s structure over time.
- By collecting statistical data on galaxy distribution, the telescope will test different theories of inflation and improve our understanding of the early universe.
Mapping Water and Life-Forming Molecules
- The telescope will search for water and biogenic molecules such as carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen within the Milky Way galaxy.
- These molecules, essential for life, are frozen in icy particles in the coldest regions of space, such as stellar nurseries and planet-forming disks around stars.
- SPHEREx will map these molecules and help scientists determine how they travelled from space to Earth, shedding light on the origins of life.
Technology and Collaboration
- The California Institute of Technology (Caltech) and Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) will develop the SPHEREx payload, while Ball Aerospace will supply the spacecraft.
- The Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute will contribute a non-flight cryogenic test chamber.
- The mission involves scientists from multiple institutions, including UC Irvine, Ohio State University, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Arizona State University, the University of Arizona, Rochester Institute of Technology, Argonne National Laboratory, and Johns Hopkins University.
- The collected data will be publicly available through the Infrared Processing and Analysis Center for future research.
SPHEREx is set to provide groundbreaking insights into the origins of the universe, the formation of galaxies, and the building blocks of life, making it a significant step forward in space exploration and astrophysics.
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