NASA’s new space telescope, Spherex, launched successfully on Tuesday from California, marking a significant advancement in our efforts to understand the universe. This groundbreaking mission is designed to capture a comprehensive view of the cosmos, examining hundreds of millions of galaxies and their collective glow since the beginning of time.
Carried into orbit by a SpaceX Falcon rocket, Spherex will travel from pole to pole above the Earth. Alongside Spherex, four small satellites were launched to research the sun. After separation from the rocket, Spherex floated into space, leaving the blue Earth behind.
With a budget of $488 million, the Spherex mission aims to shed light on how galaxies formed and evolved over billions of years, as well as the rapid expansion of the universe in its early moments. Closer to home, it will search for water and other life-sustaining ingredients in the icy clouds between stars where new solar systems are born.
Spherex, which weighs about as much as a grand piano, is shaped like a cone. It is expected to spend six months mapping the entire sky using infrared technology and a broad field of view. Over the course of two years, the telescope will complete four full sky surveys from an altitude of approximately 400 miles (650 kilometers).
Unlike NASA’s Hubble and Webb telescopes, which provide detailed views of specific galaxies, Spherex will observe the overall glow produced by all galaxies, including those formed shortly after the Big Bang, the event that created our universe. Jamie Bock, the mission’s lead scientist, explained that this cosmic glow captures all the light emitted throughout cosmic history, allowing researchers to detect sources of light they may have previously overlooked.
While Spherex won’t directly observe the Big Bang, it will help us understand its aftermath and the early stages of the universe’s development. The telescope’s infrared detectors can distinguish between 102 colors that are invisible to the human eye, creating the most colorful and comprehensive map of the cosmos ever assembled. Beth Fabinsky, the project’s deputy manager, likened this to viewing the universe through “rainbow-colored glasses.”
To achieve optimal performance, Spherex’s infrared detectors must remain extremely cold, operating at -210 degrees Celsius (-350 degrees Fahrenheit). The telescope has a unique design featuring three aluminum cones that protect its instruments from the sun and Earth’s heat, resembling a cone-shaped collar designed for a sick pet.
In addition to Spherex, the Falcon rocket also carried four NASA satellites known as Punch. These satellites will study the sun’s outer atmosphere and the resulting solar wind from their own separate orbit.
The launch was initially delayed by two weeks due to technical issues, but now marks an exciting new chapter in space exploration and our quest to learn more about the universe we inhabit.
