By National Aeronautics and Space Administration
NASA’s latest space telescope was launched into orbit on Tuesday, embarking on an unprecedented mission to map the entire sky, providing a comprehensive view of hundreds of millions of galaxies and their collective cosmic illumination since the dawn of time.
SpaceX facilitated the launch of the Spherex observatory from California, setting it on a trajectory to traverse over the Earth’s poles. Accompanying it were four compact satellites designed to study solar activity.
With a budget of $488 million, the Spherex mission seeks to elucidate the processes behind galaxy formation and evolution over billions of years, as well as to investigate the rapid expansion of the universe during its initial moments.
In our own Milky Way galaxy, Spherex will search for water and other essential life components within the frigid clouds that exist between stars, where new solar systems are born.
Weighing 1,110 pounds (500 kilograms), comparable to that of a grand piano, the cone-shaped Spherex will require six months to complete its comprehensive sky mapping using its infrared capabilities and wide field of view. Over the course of two years, four full-sky surveys are scheduled as the telescope orbits the Earth at an altitude of 400 miles (650 kilometers).
Unlike NASA’s larger and more sophisticated Hubble and Webb space telescopes, which offer detailed views of individual galaxies, Spherex will not focus on specific galaxies. Instead, it will measure the overall luminosity generated by all galaxies, including the earliest ones that emerged following the Big Bang.
This cosmological illumination encompasses all light emitted throughout cosmic history, stated Jamie Bock, the mission’s chief scientist at the California Institute of Technology. It offers a novel perspective on the universe, allowing researchers to identify sources of light that may have previously gone unnoticed.
By examining this collective glow, scientists aim to extract information about the light from the earliest galaxies and understand their formation, Bock explained.
While we will not directly observe the Big Bang, we will witness its aftermath, thereby gaining insights into the universe’s origins, he added.
The telescope’s infrared detectors are designed to identify 102 colors that are imperceptible to the human eye, resulting in the most vibrant and comprehensive map of the cosmos ever created.
It is akin to “viewing the universe through a pair of rainbow-hued glasses,” remarked Beth Fabinsky, the deputy project manager at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
To maintain the infrared detectors at an extremely low temperature of minus 350 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 210 degrees Celsius), Spherex features a distinctive design. It consists of three aluminum-honeycomb cones nested within one another, providing protection from solar and terrestrial heat, resembling a 10-foot (3-meter) collar designed for a sick dog.
In addition to the telescope, SpaceX’s Falcon rocket facilitated the launch from Vandenberg Space Force Base for a group of NASA satellites known as Punch. These satellites will operate in their own distinct polar orbit to study the sun’s corona, or outer atmosphere, along with the resulting solar wind.
The evening launch experienced a two-week delay due to issues related to the rocket and other factors.
