VANDENBERG SPACE FORCE BASE, California – The night at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California was filled with excitement as a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket successfully launched NASA’s SPHEREx space telescope and PUNCH solar mission into space. Amid cheers from onlookers and the jubilation of mission control, the scientists behind these missions expressed a mix of relief and excitement as the spacecraft headed toward their orbital destinations.
The $488 million SPHEREx mission, short for Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization and Ices Explorer, aims to explore the universe using infrared wavelengths. This mission, compared to the James Webb Space Telescope, is designed to provide a wide-field view of the celestial sky, analyzing over 450 million galaxies and 100 million stars in the Milky Way over a two-year period.
In contrast, the $165 million PUNCH mission, which stands for Polarimeter to Unify the Corona and Heliosphere, focuses on studying the outer atmosphere of the sun and how it transforms into the solar wind. This mission involves four small satellites equipped with imagers to capture detailed 3D maps of the sun’s corona and inner solar system features, including coronal mass ejections that impact space weather.
Both SPHEREx and PUNCH face unique challenges in their respective orbits. SPHEREx must maintain a sun-synchronous polar orbit to avoid heat interference from the sun, while PUNCH will continuously bask in sunlight to conduct its observations. Despite the successful launch, both missions require a period of commissioning and equipment checks to ensure optimal functionality.
The significance of these missions lies in their ability to uncover hidden aspects of the universe, particularly in regions invisible to the human eye. By utilizing advanced technology and specialized instruments, scientists hope to gain insights into the history of the universe, the dynamics of our solar system, and the behavior of cosmic phenomena such as coronal mass ejections.
As SPHEREx and PUNCH embark on their scientific endeavors, they join a league of space explorers dedicated to unraveling the mysteries of the cosmos. With innovative capabilities and ambitious goals, these missions represent a new chapter in our quest to understand the intricacies of the universe and our place within it.