NASA has selected Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) of Hawthorne, California, to provide launch services for the Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization, and Ices Explorer (SPHEREx) mission. SPHEREx is a planned two-year astrophysics mission to survey the sky in the near-infrared light, which, though not visible to the human eye, serves as a powerful tool for answering cosmic questions involving the birth of the universe, and the subsequent development of galaxies.It also will search for water and organic molecules – essentials for life as we know it – in regions where stars are born from gas and dust, known as stellar nurseries, as well as disks around stars where new planets could be forming. Astronomers will use the mission to gather data on more than 300 million galaxies, as well as more than 100 million stars in our own Milky Way galaxy.The total cost for NASA to launch SPHEREx is approximately $98.8 million, which includes the launch service and other mission related costs.The SPHEREx mission currently is targeted to launch as early as June 2024 on a Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex-4E at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.NASA’s Launch Services Program at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida will manage the SpaceX launch service. The mission, which is funded by the Astrophysics Division of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate at the agency’s headquarters in Washington, is led by the Explorer’s Program at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California is responsible for the mission’s overall project management, systems engineering, integration, and testing and mission operations.
It should be noted that the mass is only ~70kg, so lots of room for rideshares. Polar Starlink at the very least.
As a side note, NASA LSP's SpaceX contract values have just been all over the place lately, I'm struggling to think of why SPHEREx (a tiny ~$240M spacecraft headed to LEO) costs $99M to launch while DART (~$250M) costs $69M (probably due to a flight-proven booster, but still) and PACE (~$900M) costs $80M. So weird.
Quote from: vaporcobra on 02/05/2021 03:56 amAs a side note, NASA LSP's SpaceX contract values have just been all over the place lately, I'm struggling to think of why SPHEREx (a tiny ~$240M spacecraft headed to LEO) costs $99M to launch while DART (~$250M) costs $69M (probably due to a flight-proven booster, but still) and PACE (~$900M) costs $80M. So weird.As far as we know, NASA could be renting from SpaceX the Clean Room for final integration and testing for months even, and they could be renting also the equipment and the workforce. We have no idea how much of the $99M is for the mission related costs, and it can be millions.
According to project officials, given the relatively small size of SPHEREx, the Science Mission Directorate and the Launch Services Program will assess the opportunity to add a rideshare adapter to SPHEREx's launch vehicle for a secondary payload. The project's baseline cost included $2 million to conduct a secondary payload assessment. In early 2021, NASA selected the Falcon 9 rocket as the launch vehicle for SPHEREx and identified a potential secondary payload. Project officials said the decision on a secondary payload will likely be made at the project's critical design review, currently scheduled for September 2021.
I'm guessing based on the previous post that they've approved the delay.
NASA LAUNCH SERVICES II - SPACE EXPLORATION TECHNOLOGIES. This modification is to incorporate the PUNCH rideshare on the SPHEREx mission.
This picture shows the SPHEREx observatory in a horizontal position, allowing us to see all three layers of photon shields as well as the telescope. This configuration was used to perform a cover deployment test, as well as a thorough inspection and cleaning of the photon shield edges. In this picture, the telescope soft cover is installed to protect the optics from dust and other foreign objects. The observatory will be transported in this orientation to the anechoic chamber used for EMI/EMC testing in late April, before being moved to a vertical position for the test. These pictures were taken at BAE Systems, in Boulder CO in mid-April 2024. (Image Captured by: BAE Systems, Courtesy NASA/JPL-Caltech.)
The project continues to work toward a targeted launch date of February 2025, which is 2 months before its baseline launch readiness date of April 2025. Project officials said the objective is to finish as quickly as possible because it would cost more money to run the project for a longer duration. According to officials, the project has already used available schedule mitigations, such as reductions in testing.
Launch date: No later than April 2025
