The SPHEREx All-Sky Infrared Spectral Survey Satellite

Video • May 6th, 2019

 

Watch Jamie Bock, the principal investigator of the SPHEREx, discuss this two-year mission that will produce four complete all-sky maps with over a billion detected galaxies, hundreds of millions of high-quality stellar and galactic spectra, and over a million ice absorption spectra, enabling diverse scientific investigations. SPHEREx, selected for a NASA Medium Explorer (MIDEX) mission in February 2019, is designed to spectrally survey the entire sky using a small cryogenic wide-field telescope combined with novel (but simple) spectrometers. SPHEREx will probe the inflationary birth of the universe by studying large-scale structure, complementing surveys optimized to constrain dark energy. It will investigate the origin of water and biogenic molecules, locked in interstellar ices in the early phases of planetary system formation. It will also chart the origin and history of galaxy formation through a unique mapping method in two deep survey fields. This lecture was organized by the Keck Institute for Space Studies on May 6, 2019.