Don’t Miss NASA’s SPHEREx and PUNCH Space Missions Launching on March 2: Your Ultimate Guide to Watching Live!

Exciting news! NASA is gearing up for the launch of two missions, “SPHEREx” and “PUNCH,” on the same rocket. Mark your calendars for Sunday, March 2. They will lift off from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket at 10:09 p.m. EST (7:09 p.m. local time, and 0309 GMT on March 3). This shared launch is part of NASA’s plan to efficiently use resources by pairing science missions with commercial launch vehicles.

You can catch the launch live on NASA+, their YouTube channel, or here on Space.com. But what exactly will SPHEREx and PUNCH do once they’re in space?

SPHEREx stands for Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization, and Ices Explorer. This unique spacecraft is designed to work like a wide-angle version of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). While the JWST focuses in on distant galaxies with great detail, SPHEREx will survey a broader area, capturing the light from many galaxies at once.

On the other hand, PUNCH — which means Polarimeter to Unify the Corona and Heliosphere — has a different mission. It consists of four satellites that will orbit Earth and explore the sun’s outer atmosphere, or corona. Understanding how the corona transforms into solar wind is crucial for many reasons, particularly for predicting space weather. This is important because solar winds can affect satellite communications, power grids, and even the health of astronauts in space.

Coronal mass ejections (CMEs) are bursts of plasma from the sun that can impact Earth when directed our way. While they don’t usually signal disaster, they do necessitate attention due to their potential effects on our technology and safety.

SPHEREx will tackle big questions about the universe, like why cosmic inflation occurred and how Earth got its water. Meanwhile, PUNCH will use its polarizing techniques to study various features of the solar wind, gaining insights into phenomena that affect us here on Earth.

While we wait for the missions to launch, it’s fascinating to consider the mysteries they will help us unlock about our universe and the sun’s influence on our planet.