NASA has launched a $488m infrared mission to map the distribution of galaxies and study cosmic inflation. The Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization and Ices Explorer (SPHEREx) mission was launched yesterday from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California by a SpaceX Falcon-9 rocket.

Set to operate for two years in a polar orbit about 650 km from the Earth’s surface, SPHEREx will collect data from 450 million galaxies as well as more than 100 million stars to create a 3D map of the cosmos.

It will use to this gain an insight into cosmic inflation – the rapid expansion of the universe following the Big Bang.

It will also search the Milky Way for hidden reservoirs of water, carbon dioxide and other ingredients critical for life as well as study the cosmic glow of light from the space between galaxies.

The craft features three concentric shields that surround the telescope to protect it from light and heat. Three mirrors, including a 20 cm primary mirror, collect light before feed it into filters and detectors. The set-up allows the telescope to resolve 102 different wavelengths of light.

Packing a punch

SPHEREx has been launched together with another NASA mission dubbed Polarimeter to Unify the Corona and Heliosphere (PUNCH). Via a constellation of four satellites in a low-Earth orbit, PUNCH will make 3D observations of the Sun’s corona to learn how the mass and energy become solar wind. It will also explore the formation and evolution of space weather events such as coronal mass ejections, which can create storms of energetic particle radiation that can be damaging to spacecraft.

PUNCH will now undergo a three-month commissioning period in which the four satellites will enter the correct orbital formation and the instruments calibrated to operate as a single “virtual instrument” before it begins studying the 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,” noted Nicky Fox, associate administrator for NASA’s science mission directorate. “Congratulations to both mission teams as they explore the cosmos from far-out galaxies to our neighbourhood star. I am excited to see the data returned in the years to come.”