The SPHEREx telescope and detectors will stay cold in space with the help of three "V-groove" radiators, seen here at the bottom of the telescope. Nicknamed the "jewels that keep SPHEREx cool," these radiators emit thermal energy as infrared radiation out to the sides, and into the cold of space. The radiators are staged such that each one reaches a lower temperature as you move toward the top. The last radiator stage is a plate, located near the top of the telescope, which provides the lowest temperature stage for the long-wavelength detectors. The telescope was built by Ball Aerospace.
NASA's SPHEREx space telescope has been tucked inside a custom-built chamber on and off for the past two months undergoing tests to prepare it for its two-year mission in space. SPHEREx, which stands for Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization and Ices Explorer, is set to launch into orbit around Earth no later than April 2025. It will map the entire sky in infrared wavelengths of light, capturing not only images of hundreds of millions of stars and galaxies but spectra for these objects as well. Spectra are created by instruments that break apart light into a rainbow of wavelengths, revealing new details about a cosmic object's composition, distance, and more.
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Key elements are coming together for NASA’s SPHEREx mission, a space telescope that will create a map of the universe like none before. NASA’s SPHEREx space telescope is beginning to look much like it will when it arrives in Earth orbit and starts mapping the entire sky.
Read MoreIn this timelapse movie, scientists and engineers can be seen preparing NASA’s SPHEREx space telescope for tests inside a vacuum chamber at Caltech that simulates the environment of space.
Read MoreThe SPHEREx team completed the first successful testing of the SPHEREx flight instrument – detector assemblies, telescope, and thermal control system.
Read MoreSPHEREx team members showcased SPHEREx during the Explore JPL open house.
Read MoreThe SPHEREx mission will create a 3D map of the entire sky. Its cutting-edge instruments require a custom-built chamber to make sure they’ll be ready to operate in space. After three years of design and construction, a monthlong boat ride across the Pacific Ocean, and a lift from a 30-ton crane, the customized test chamber for NASA’s upcoming SPHEREx mission has finally reached its destination...
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