NASA recently launched two exciting missions into space: SPHEREx and PUNCH. These missions aim to broaden our understanding of the universe and the sun. They lifted off together on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California at 11:10 p.m. ET on a Tuesday night.
The launch was initially delayed due to weather and technical issues. However, launching two missions together makes the project more cost-effective. Dr. Nicky Fox from NASA’s Science Mission Directorate emphasized that this strategy maximizes scientific output for less money.
SPHEREx, short for Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization, and Ices Explorer, aims to investigate the origins of the universe and life. It will spend over two years orbiting Earth, analyzing data from more than 450 million galaxies and more than 100 million stars. The telescope will also help scientists study a phenomenon known as cosmic inflation, which describes how the universe expanded dramatically after the Big Bang.
On the other hand, PUNCH, or Polarimeter to Unify the Corona and Heliosphere, explores the sun’s influence on the solar system. It focuses on the sun’s outer atmosphere, known as the corona, and the solar wind—streams of energized particles that emerge from the sun. The data gathered will provide insights into space weather, which affects satellites and power grids on Earth.
Dr. Mark Clampin, a senior NASA official, pointed out that both missions represent different yet complementary aspects of science. While PUNCH offers detailed studies of the sun, SPHEREx surveys a large area of space. This combination enables a deeper understanding of both local and cosmic phenomena.
SPHEREx plans to map the sky in 102 colors of infrared light, allowing scientists to gather information invisible to the human eye. This will help discover essential ingredients for life, such as water and carbon compounds, hidden in the clouds that form stars and planets.
PUNCH consists of four spacecraft equipped with cameras that will create detailed, three-dimensional maps of the sun’s atmosphere. These observations are crucial during the solar maximum period, when the sun is most active with solar flares and storms. Understanding these events is important since they can disrupt communication systems on Earth.
Recent statistics from NASA show that during the last solar maximum in 2014-2015, solar flares caused several communication disruptions and power outages. Researchers hope that data from PUNCH will improve predictions about such events in the future.
Both missions symbolize an era of collaboration, where various spacecraft can work together to reveal the mysteries of the cosmos. PUNCH and SPHEREx will coordinate with the James Webb Space Telescope and the Parker Solar Probe to create a more comprehensive picture of the universe and our place within it.
Jamie Bock, the primary investigator for SPHEREx, noted that this mission is the first to study the entire sky in such a broad range of colors. Expect new discoveries as scientists explore our universe like never before!
For more information on SPHEREx, visit NASA’s official site here. You can also read more about PUNCH here.
