NASA Selects SPHEREx As Its Next Medium-class Explorer Mission
We are excited and humbled to announce that NASA has selected SPHEREx as its next medium-class explorer mission, for launch in 2023! SPHEREx, the Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization, and Ices Explorer, is a unique all-sky spectroscopic mapping mission that will address all three science goals in NASA's Astrophysics Division:
1) probing the origin and destiny of our universe,
2) exploring whether planets around other stars could harbor life, and
3) exploring the origin and evolution of galaxies.
We can't wait to begin this new phase of the mission and see the amazing science SPHEREx will generate!
Recent News
SPHEREx has made detailed multi-spectral observations of interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS, detecting an abundance of carbon dioxide gas in its coma (the extended gaseous atmosphere of a comet) and water ice in its nucleus. The observations were made between Aug. 7 to Aug. 15, when the object was about 290 million miles (470 million kilometers) from the Sun.
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NASA’s newest astrophysics space telescope launched in March on a mission to create an all-sky map of the universe. Now settled into low-Earth orbit, SPHEREx (Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization, and Ices Explorer) has begun delivering its sky survey data to a public archive on a weekly basis, allowing anyone to use the data to probe the secrets of the cosmos.
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Building SPHEREx in a Caltech Basement
How a NASA space telescope came together in a university lab
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After weeks of preparation, the space observatory has begun its science mission, taking about 3,600 unique images per day to create a map of the cosmos like no other.
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NASA’s Newest Space Telescope Recognized at New York Stock Exchange
The SPHEREx astrophysics observatory will help answer big questions about the origins of our universe, of galaxies, and the ingredients for life in our galaxy.
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