SpaceX will launch NASA’s SPHEREx astrophysics survey mission
Aiming for a launch in 2024, NASA’s Spectro-Photometer Mission for the History of the Universe
The Epoch of Reionization and the Ices Explorer (SPHEREx) will be conducted from an orbital observatory They performed a near-infrared survey of the sky to provide clues as to the beginning of the universe and how galaxies evolved over time.
Now NASA has announced that it has selected SpaceX as part of a SPHEREx mission with a total cost of 99, $ 8 million for launch and other related costs.
The plan for launch is to use a Falcon 9 rocket, SpaceX’s reusable workhorse rocket that launched everything from replenishment missions to the International Space Station to the first crewed test flight and then the Crew Dragon capsule’s first operational flight to the Carrying astronauts.
The plan is to launch SPHEREx from Space Launch Complex-4E at Vandenberg Air Force Base, California in June 2024.
NASA selected the SPHEREx mission for funding and launch in February 2019. NASA officials at the time called it a “treasure trove of unique data for astronomers”.
By Measurement of the sky in the near-infrared, SPHEREx collects data on over 300 million galaxies and on the more than 100 million stars in our galaxy.
By mapping the entire sky multiple times, data is collected using different filters to accommodate different wavelengths. The result should help astronomers understand deep questions about how the universe was formed.
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NASA says the mission will also search for water and organic molecules in star-forming regions, in addition to searching for disks of matter that could form planets.
Digitaltrends / TechConflict.Com