NASA launches 'incredible' telescope and satellites into space to explore the universe and the sun
NASA has taken a significant step to understand the foundational forces that shaped our universe and the elements within. The space agency hope to discover valuable data about the space from this endeavor. They launched two separate missions — astrophysics observatory SPHEREx and four combined satellites PUNCH — to study the sun and the origins of the cosmos. Now in Earth’s orbit, the missions are expected to map the entire sky and solar system, searching for remnants of what might have happened right after the Big Bang.
SPHEREx is short for Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization and Ices Explorer, while PUNCH is acronym for Polarimeter to Unify the Corona and Heliosphere. The SPHEREx telescope and PUNCH satellites were onboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifted off at 8:10 p.m. PDT on March 11 from Space Launch Complex 4 East at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. “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,” commented Associate Administrator Nicky Fox Nicky Fox of Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters.
Communication with the space observatory has already been established by the ground controllers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. The SPHEREx has embarked on a two-year mission which would begin after the satellite completes a one-month checkout period. During this one-month period, engineers and scientists would observe the functioning of the spacecraft and ensure that it works properly. After the launch, the PUNCH satellites successfully separated and ground controllers established communication with all four spacecraft. They would begin a 90-day commissioning period with orbital corrections.
This period would also include the calibration of instruments to make a single functioning “virtual instrument” that would analyze images of the solar wind. “The fact our amazing SPHEREx team kept this mission on track even as the Southern California wildfires swept through our community is a testament to their remarkable commitment to deepening humanity’s understanding of our universe,” stated Laurie Leshin, the director of NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory. “We now eagerly await the scientific breakthroughs from SPHEREx’s all-sky survey — including insights into how the universe began and where the ingredients of life reside,” she added.
The missions were designed to be functional in a low Earth, Sun-synchronous orbit along the day-night line or the terminator line. This means that the Sun would always remain in the same position relative to the spacecraft. This would keep SPHEREx protected from the sun's light and heat and PUNCH would have an open view in all directions around the sun. Changes in these environments would affect their observations. The observatory would create a 3D map of the entire galactic sky every six months. “The space between planets is not an empty void. It’s full of turbulent solar wind that washes over Earth,” said Craig DeForest, the mission’s principal investigator.
The PUNCH mission would provide a wider perspective that would add to the work of space telescopes that observed smaller sections of the sky in more detail. The results would examine the Sun’s outer atmosphere called corona, explore the formation and evolution of space and storms of energetic particle radiation. It would determine if any coronal mass ejections were part of the universe’s formation and if they could endanger spacecraft and astronauts.
