NASA to launch space observatory that will map 450 million galaxies
A new NASA space observatory, called SPHEREx, is scheduled to launch into orbit Thursday on a mission to map more than 450 million galaxies.
A new NASA space observatory is scheduled to launch into orbit Sunday on a lofty mission to map more than 450 million galaxies.
The SPHEREx mission (short for Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization and Ices Explorer) will map the entire sky four times over two years, offering scientists a chance to study how galaxies form and evolve, and providing a window into how the universe came to be.
“It’s going to answer a fundamental question: How did we get here?” Shawn Domagal-Goldman, acting director of the astrophysics division at NASA headquarters, said in a recent news briefing.
SPHEREx is scheduled to lift off Sunday at 10:09 p.m. ET from Vandenberg Space Force Base, California. The launch was initially planned for Thursday, but NASA said the short delay would “allow additional time for teams to perform rocket processing ahead of liftoff.”
The cone-shaped spacecraft — along with four suitcase-sized satellites that NASA will deploy at the same time on a separate mission to study the sun — will launch atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.
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