After a successful and on schedule delivery of the payload by the Caltech and JPL SPHEREx team to BAE Systems in Boulder, CO, the final assembly or the SPHEREx spacecraft has began. In the picture below, you can see two of the three SPHEREx photon shields attached. Hidden inside the photon shield and invisible in this picture lie the SPHEREx telescope and instruments. The conic photon shields will protect the telescope from the light and heat of the Sun and Earth.
NASA and SpaceX are targeting late February 2025 for the launch of the agency’s next astrophysics observatory, SPHEREx. Short for Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization and Ices Explorer, SPHEREx will launch aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.
Read MoreSPHEREx Observatory is back in the BAE cleanroom for final cleaning, testing and closeouts prior to shipment to the launch site.
Read MoreThe space telescope will detect over 100 colors from hundreds of millions of stars and galaxies. Here’s what astronomers will do with all that color.
Read MoreSPHEREx observatory continues its thorough testing campaign and successfully passed its vibe test at BAE Systems in Boulder, CO.
Read MoreSPHEREx observatory continues its thorough testing campaign and successfully passes its acoustic test.
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