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
Status Update ▪ Instrument Tested and Delivered ▪ Observatory I&T in Progress ▪ Working Observatory TVAC Anomalies ▪ Feb 2025 Launch
PUNCH is scheduled to launch in April of 2025.
Spacecraft: Constellation of four ~40kg suitcase-sized satellites
SPHEREx remains on track after reaction wheel issueNovember 12, 2024[...]SPHEREx will separately launch in April 2025 on a Falcon 9 from Vandenberg Space Force Base, with a NASA heliophysics mission, Polarimeter to Unify the Corona and Heliosphere (PUNCH), flying as a secondary payload. Clampin said the next major milestone for SPHEREx is an operations readiness review in early December.[...]
According to PUNCH PM Ronnie Killough, PUNCH took on many forms throughout development before settling on the current mission configuration. PUNCH was initially to be the primary payload on a Pegasus launch vehicle until changing to the current launch plan (as a rideshare with SPHEREx on a deployer ring) which occurred after Preliminary Design Review (PDR). As rideshares of this nature are a newer process, PUNCH is again paving new ground as programmatic and technical rideshare processes are developed and refined.
Notably, the lenses inside the Optical Lens Assembly (OLA) came loose during instrument-level vibration testing. The SwRI and the Explorers program worked with the vendor to determine the cause of failure, resolving the issue with enhanced bonding on the lenses. In an effort to mitigate cost and schedule impact, SwRI and the vendor worked together to come up with a novel solution without requiring a full OLA re-design, which would have taken significantly more time and money.The PUNCH team resolved a recent radio failure in a similar manner. The problem arose during NFI Observatory Thermal Vacuum (TVAC) testing. After a six-week investigation, the team identified the root cause as thermal runaway due to a design flaw in the radio discovered by the vendor during the subsequent investigation. This flaw had not been discovered previously because, while PUNCH was using the hardware within product specifications, it was not being operated in the same way as before. The resolution required all four observatories to be disassembled to gain access to the radios for rework.
As a result of this collaborative approach, all radios were successfully reworked and all four observatories have been reintegrated. Two observatories will reenter TVAC testing in early October, with the testing plan revised to TVAC-test the observatories in pairs for cost and schedule savings. While this failure pushed project reserves to their limits, the Program Office worked with the project and other stakeholders to address the cost and schedule impacts.
BAE Systems (LON: BA) has completed environmental testing of NASA's Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization and Ices Explorer (SPHEREx) Observatory. This mission will conduct all-sky spectral surveys for the first time and provide scientists with new insights into the formation of the universe and the galaxies that inhabit it.
BAE Systems also led the observatory's integration and environmental testing program, which includes thermal vacuum chamber tests that simulate temperature and conditions in space, vibration and acoustic tests that mimic launch conditions, and electromagnetic interference and compatibility tests to ensure the spacecraft isn't vulnerable to electrical disruptions. With testing completed, BAE Systems will now enter final preparations for shipment and launch.SPHEREx is scheduled to launch no earlier than February 2025.
The observatory will lend insight into what happened after the big bang, measure the glow of galaxies near and far, and search the Milky way for building blocks of life.NASA and SpaceX are targeting late February 2025 for the launch of the agency’s next astrophysics observatory, SPHEREx. Short for Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization and Ices Explorer, SPHEREx will launch aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.About the size of a subcompact car, SPHEREx will enter a polar orbit around Earth and create a map of the entire sky in 3D, taking images in every direction, like scanning the inside of a globe. The map will contain hundreds of millions of stars and galaxies, showing them in 102 colors (each a different wavelength of light).Scientists will use SPHEREx’s all-sky map to achieve the mission’s three key science goals. The first is to shed light on a cosmic phenomenon called inflation, a brief but powerful cosmic event when space itself increased in size by a trillion-trillionfold less than a second after the big bang. The observatory will measure the distribution of hundreds of millions of galaxies to improve understanding of what drove inflation and of the physics behind this event.The SPHEREx mission will also measure the collective glow from galaxies near and far, including light from hidden galaxies that haven’t been individually observed. This data will provide a more complete picture of all the objects and sources radiating in the universe.Its third key science goal is to search the Milky Way galaxy for icy granules of water, carbon dioxide, and other essential building blocks of life. The mission will help scientists discover the location and abundance of these icy compounds in our galaxy, giving them a better sense of how likely they are to be incorporated into newly forming planets.Launching as a secondary payload on the same Falcon 9 rocket as SPHEREx will be NASA’s PUNCH mission (Polarimeter to Unify the Corona and Heliosphere). Led by Southwest Research Institute’s office in Boulder, Colorado, and managed by NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, PUNCH is a constellation of four small satellites heading to low Earth orbit that will make global, 3D observations of the Sun’s corona to learn how the mass and energy there become solar wind.
Registration is open for digital content creators to attend the launch of NASA’s Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization and Ices Explorer (SPHEREx) mission, and NASA’s Polarimeter to Unify the Corona and Heliosphere (PUNCH) mission. SPHEREx will provide the first all-sky spectral survey, collecting data on more than 450 million galaxies along with more than 100 million stars in the Milky Way in order to explore the origins of the universe. PUNCH is a constellation of four small satellites in low-Earth orbit that will make global, 3D observations of the Sun’s corona to learn how the mass and energy there become solar wind. NASA and SpaceX are targeting no earlier than February 2025 for the SPHEREx and PUNCH missions launch on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex 4E at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. [...]NASA Social registration for the SPHEREx and PUNCH launch opens on Monday, Dec. 9, and the deadline to apply is Monday, Dec. 23 at noon ET. All social applications will be considered on a case-by-case basis.
By this application, SSC Space US dba USN request a 30-day STA to support PUNCH LEOP operations from its Alaska station commencing February 20th 2025. PUNCH is a NASA SwRI mission images the Sun
A minor update on the SPHEREx mission at #AAS245: the spacecraft is currently en route to Vandenberg for its launch late next month on a Falcon 9.
Media accreditation is open for the launch of two NASA missions that will explore the mysteries of our universe and Sun.The agency is targeting late February to launch its SPHEREx (Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization and Ices Explorer) observatory, a space telescope that will create a 3D map of the entire sky to help scientists investigate the origins of our universe. NASA’s PUNCH (Polarimeter to Unify the Corona and Heliosphere) mission, which will study origins of the Sun’s outflow of material, or the solar wind, also will ride to space with the telescope.NASA and SpaceX will launch the missions aboard the company’s Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex 4E at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.Accredited media will have the opportunity to participate in a series of prelaunch briefings and interviews with key mission personnel, including a science briefing the week of launch. NASA will communicate additional details regarding the media event schedule as the launch date approaches.Media interested in covering the launch must apply for media accreditation. The application deadline for U.S. citizens is 11:59 p.m. EST, Thursday, Feb. 6, while international media without U.S. citizenship must apply by 11:59 p.m., Monday, Jan. 20.
NASA’s SPHEREx spacecraft arrived Tuesday, Jan. 14, at Astrotech Space Operations located inside Vandenberg Space Force Base in California for final processing before launching on its two-year mission. The SPHEREx (Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization and Ices Explorer) observatory is targeted to launch at the end of February on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex 4E. Following launch, SPHEREx will support NASA’s goals of discovering the secrets of the universe and searching for the ingredients for life elsewhere. The telescope will scan the sky in the infrared spectrum from a position in Earth orbit and complete four all-sky maps. These willallow scientists to learn about a variety of topics, including the origins of water on planets like Earth, to the physics that governed the universe less than one second after its birth. After final tests and checkouts, teams will mate SPHEREx and its rideshare PUNCH (Polarimeter to Unify the Corona and Heliosphere) in preparation for encapsulation in the payload fairings of the Falcon 9 rocket.
💼An on-time arrival for four suitcase-sized satellites!PUNCH (Polarimeter to Unify the Corona and Heliosphere) is a bit like a carry-on for the SPHEREx launch coming up in late February. PUNCH will study how the mass and energy of the Sun’s corona become the solar wind.
NASA KennedyKSC-20250121-PH-ANV01_0004Crews conduct a solar array deployment test on the spacecraft of NASA’s PUNCH (Polarimeter to Unify the Corona and Heliosphere) satellites at Astrotech Space Operations located on Vandenberg Space Force Base in California on Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2025. The four satellites of PUNCH will make 3D observations of the Sun’s corona to learn how the mass and energy becomes solar wind. PUNCH, along with NASA’s SPHEREx (Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization and Ices Explorer), a space telescope, will launch aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket in late February 2025.Photo credit: USSF 30th Space Wing/Alex Valdez
NASA JPL Prepping for Full Year of Launches, Mission MilestonesJan 23, 2025[...]Shaped like the bell of a trumpet and as big as a subcompact car, NASA’s SPHEREx space observatory is aiming for the stars. Known formally as the Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization and Ices Explorer, the mission will create four 3D maps of the entire sky in order to improve humanity’s understanding of the universe — how it expanded after the big bang, where ingredients of life can be found in ice grains, and much more. Target launch date: no earlier than Feb. 27 from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.[...]
Go behind the scenes with the team working on NASA’s SPHEREx space telescope as they talk through their rigorous testing process.
NASA news conference to discuss a new telescope that will improve our understanding of how the universe evolved and search for key ingredients for life in our galaxy. Agency experts will preview NASA’s SPHEREx (Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization and Ices Explorer) mission, which will help scientists better understand the structure of the universe, how galaxies form and evolve, and the origins and abundance of water. Launch is targeted for no earlier than Thursday, Feb. 27. Briefing participants include: • Laurie Leshin, director, NASA JPL • Shawn Domagal-Goldman, acting director, Astrophysics Division, NASA Headquarters • James Fanson, project manager, SPHEREx, NASA JPL • Beth Fabinsky, deputy project manager, SPHEREx, NASA JPL • Jamie Bock, principal investigator, SPHEREx, Caltech • Cesar Marin, SPHEREx integration engineer, Launch Services Program, NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida
NASA will hold a media teleconference at 2 p.m. EST on Tuesday, Feb. 4, to share information about the agency’s upcoming PUNCH (Polarimeter to Unify the Corona and Heliosphere) mission, which is targeted to launch no earlier than Thursday, Feb. 27.The agency’s PUNCH mission is a constellation of four small satellites. When they arrive in low Earth orbit, the satellites will make global, 3D observations of the Sun’s outer atmosphere, the corona, and help NASA learn how the mass and energy there become solar wind. By imaging the Sun’s corona and the solar wind together, scientists hope to better understand the entire inner heliosphere – Sun, solar wind, and Earth – as a single connected system.Audio of the teleconference will stream live on the agency’s website at: https://www.nasa.gov/liveParticipants include: • Madhulika Guhathakurta, NASA program scientist, NASA Headquarters • Nicholeen Viall, PUNCH mission scientist, NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center • Craig DeForest, PUNCH principal investigator, Southwest Research Institute
NASA will host a news conference at 12 p.m. EST Friday, Jan. 31, at the agency’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California to discuss the SPHEREx (Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization and Ices Explorer) mission, which is targeted to launch no earlier than Feb. 27. The SPHEREx space telescope will help scientists better understand the structure of the universe, how galaxies form and evolve, and the origins and abundance of water and other key ingredients for life in our galaxy.
There is a news conference scheduled for tomorrow (Jan. 31) previewing the mission ahead of launch.https://plus.nasa.gov/scheduled-video/spherex-mission-countdown-preview-to-launch/QuoteNASA will host a news conference at 12 p.m. EST Friday, Jan. 31, at the agency’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California to discuss the SPHEREx (Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization and Ices Explorer) mission, which is targeted to launch no earlier than Feb. 27. The SPHEREx space telescope will help scientists better understand the structure of the universe, how galaxies form and evolve, and the origins and abundance of water and other key ingredients for life in our galaxy.
NASA's Launch Services Program@NASA_LSPLaunch, Land, & Re-Launch!This SpaceX Falcon 9 booster is currently going through refurbishment activities at Vandenberg Space Force Base, CA. The SPHEREx and PUNCH missions will be the third flight for this booster, having previously flown on NROL-126 and Transporter-12.Refurbishment activities are expected to take place over the next few weeks. Once complete, SpaceX will transport the booster to Space Launch Complex 4 for integration with the second stage and SPHEREx/PUNCH Encapsulated Assembly in preparation for launch.
The launch window opens at 10:09 p.m. EST (7:09 p.m. PST) Thursday, Feb. 27, for the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket that will lift off from Space Launch Complex 4 East at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.[...]NASA’s mission coverage is as follows (all times Eastern and subject to change based on real-time operations):Tuesday, Feb. 252 p.m. – SPHEREx and PUNCH Science Overview News Conference • Shawn Domagal-Goldman, acting director, Astrophysics Division, NASA Headquarters • Joe Westlake, director, Heliophysics Division, NASA Headquarters • Nicholeen Viall, PUNCH Mission Scientist, NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center • Rachel Akeson, SPHEREx science data center lead, Caltech/IPAC • Phil Korngut, SPHEREx instrument scientist, CaltechWednesday, Feb. 263:30 p.m. – SPHEREx and PUNCH Prelaunch News Conference • Mark Clampin, acting deputy associate administrator, Science Mission Directorate, NASA Headquarters • David Cheney, PUNCH program executive, NASA Headquarters • James Fanson, SPHEREx project manager, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory • Denton Gibson, launch director, NASA’s Launch Services Program • Julianna Scheiman, director, NASA Science Missions, SpaceX • U.S. Air Force 1st Lt. Ina Park, 30th Operations Support Squadron launch weather officerThursday, Feb. 2712 p.m. – SPHEREx and PUNCH Launch Preview.9:15 p.m. – Launch coverage begins.10:09 p.m. – Launch window opens.
Seems like the launch got delayed to February 28 PST: https://plus.nasa.gov/scheduled-video/spherex-and-punch-launch/The pre-launch news conference is now also showing delayed to the 27th: https://plus.nasa.gov/scheduled-video/spherex-and-punch-pre-launch-news-conference/
NASA and SpaceX now are targeting no earlier than 10:09 p.m. EST (7:09 p.m. PST) on Friday, Feb. 28, for the launch of the agency’s SPHEREx and PUNCH missions. The new date will allow additional time to ensure the vehicle’s readiness ahead of liftoff. SPHEREx and PUNCH will launch on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex 4 East (SLC-4E) at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.The SPHEREx mission (Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization and Ices Explorer) will improve our understanding of what happened in the first second after the big bang and search for key ingredients for life in our galaxy. The PUNCH mission (Polarimeter to Unify the Corona and Heliosphere) will observe the Sun’s corona as it transitions into the solar wind.The prelaunch news briefing now will be held at 3:30 p.m. EST Thursday, Feb. 27, with coverage streaming live on NASA+. Media may ask questions in person and via phone. Limited auditorium space will be available for in-person participation. For the dial-in number and passcode, media should contact the Kennedy newsroom no later than one hour before the start of the event at [email protected].The SPHEREx and PUNCH live launch broadcast will begin at 9:15 p.m. EST, Friday, Feb. 28, and stream live on NASA+.Visit the NASA website for more information about SPHEREx and PUNCH.
Watch the launch of a NASA space telescope that will create a 3D all-sky map in 102 colors, with a constellation of solar-observing satellites along for the ride. Our SPHEREx observatory and PUNCH mission will lift off on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.
Watch the pre-launch science for NASA's SPHEREx and PUNCH missions.
Watch NASA's prelaunch update for SPHEREx and PUNCH missions.
242341Z FEB 25NAVAREA XII 112/25(18).EASTERN NORTH PACIFIC.CALIFORNIA.1. HAZARDOUS OPERATIONS, SPACE DEBRIS: A. 010304Z TO 010345Z, 020304Z TO 020345Z, 030304Z TO 030345Z, 040304Z TO 040345Z, 050304Z TO 050345Z, 060304Z TO 060345Z AND 070304Z TO 070345Z MAR IN AREA BOUND BY 30-17.00N 121-16.00W, 29-42.00N 121-47.00W, 29-45.00N 122-37.00W, 30-30.00N 122-50.00W, 31-00.00N 122-13.00W, 31-00.00N 121-24.00W. B. 010304Z TO 010340Z, 020304Z TO 020340Z, 030304Z TO 030340Z, 040304Z TO 040340Z, 050304Z TO 050340Z, 060304Z TO 060340Z AND 070304Z TO 070340Z MAR IN AREA BOUND BY 34-41.00N 120-42.00W, 34-41.00N 120-27.00W, 34-26.00N 120-27.00W, 30-57.00N 121-49.00W, 30-59.00N 121-57.00W.2. CANCEL THIS MSG 070445Z MAR 25.
242332Z FEB 25HYDROPAC 487/25(76,83).SOUTH PACIFIC.DNC 06.1. HAZARDOUS OPERATIONS, SPACE DEBRIS 0453Z TO 0541Z DAILY 01 THRU 07 MAR IN AREA BOUND BY 22-31.00S 167-56.00W, 22-35.00S 171-18.00W, 39-37.00S 177-11.00W, 41-15.00S 172-09.00W.2. CANCEL HYDROPAC 486/25.3. CANCEL THIS MSG 070641Z MAR 25.
NASA's Launch Services Program@NASA_LSP🚀It’s launch week! Do you know your satellites?Yes, it’s a two-fer! SPHEREx is an observatory that will study the entire galaxy while PUNCH will observe the Sun’s corona.Watch a science briefing today at 11 a.m. PST (2 p.m. EST) on NASA+.
NASA and SpaceX now are targeting no earlier than Sunday, March 2, for the launch of the agency’s SPHEREx and PUNCH missions. The new date will allow additional time for teams to perform rocket processing ahead of liftoff. The launch time is targeted for 10:09 p.m. EST (7:09 p.m. PST) from Space Launch Complex 4 East (SLC-4E) at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.[...]The prelaunch news briefing now is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. on Saturday, March 1, with coverage streaming live on NASA+. Media may ask questions in person and via phone. Limited auditorium space will be available for in-person participation. For the dial-in number and passcode, media should contact the Kennedy newsroom no later than one hour before the start of the event at [email protected].The SPHEREx and PUNCH live launch broadcast will begin at 9:15 p.m., Sunday, March 2, and stream live NASA+.
SPACEX FALCON 9 SPHERE X, VANDENBERG, SFBPRIMARY: 03/03/25 0304Z-0340ZBACKUP: 03/04/25 0304Z-0340Z
SPACEX FALCON 9 SPHERE X, VANDENBERG, SFBPRIMARY: 03/05/25 0304Z-0340ZBACKUP: 03/06/25 0304Z-0340Z
https://www.fly.faa.gov/adv/adv_spt.jsp:QuoteSPACEX FALCON 9 SPHERE X, VANDENBERG, SFBPRIMARY: 03/05/25 0304Z-0340ZBACKUP: 03/06/25 0304Z-0340Z
SPHEREx and PUNCH UpdateNASA will not hold the SPHEREx and PUNCH prelaunch news conference on Monday, March 3. The agency will share more information as soon as possible.
SPACEX FALCON 9 SPHERE X, VANDENBERG SFB, CAPRIMARY: 03/06/25 0304Z-0340ZBACKUP: 03/07/25 0304Z-0340Z
031734Z MAR 25NAVAREA XII 127/25(18).EASTERN NORTH PACIFIC.CALIFORNIA.1. HAZARDOUS OPERATIONS, SPACE DEBRIS 0304Z TO 0345Z DAILY 06 THRU 12 MAR IN AREAS BOUND BY: A. 31-00.00N 121-24.00W, 31-00.00N 122-13.00W, 30-30.00N 122-50.00W, 29-45.00N 122-37.00W, 29-42.00N 121-47.00W, 30-17.00N 121-16.00W. B. 34-26.00N 120-27.00W, 34-41.00N 120-27.00W, 34-41.00N 120-42.00W, 30-59.00N 121-57.00W, 30-57.00N 121-49.00W.2. CANCEL NAVAREA XII 112/25.3. CANCEL THIS MSG 120445Z MAR 25.
031608Z MAR 25HYDROPAC 561/25(76,83).SOUTH PACIFIC.DNC 06.1. HAZARDOUS OPERATIONS, SPACE DEBRIS 0453Z TO 0541Z DAILY 06 THRU 12 MAR IN AREA BOUND BY 22-31.00S 167-56.00W, 22-35.00S 171-18.00W, 39-37.00S 177-11.00W, 41-15.00S 172-09.00W.2. CANCEL THIS MSG 120641Z MAR 25.
NASA, SpaceX Update Launch Date for SPHEREx, PUNCH MissionsNASA and SpaceX now are targeting no earlier than Thursday, March 6, for the launch of the agency’s SPHEREx and PUNCH missions. The additional time will allow teams to complete vehicle processing and prelaunch checkouts.The launch window opens at 10:09 p.m. EST (7:09 p.m. PST) from Space Launch Complex 4 East (SLC-4E) at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.The SPHEREx mission (Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization and Ices Explorer) will improve our understanding of what happened in the first second after the big bang and search for key ingredients for life in our galaxy. The PUNCH mission (Polarimeter to Unify the Corona and Heliosphere) will observe the Sun’s corona as it transitions into the solar wind.The prelaunch news briefing now is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. on Wednesday, March 5, with coverage streaming live on NASA+. Media may ask questions via phone. For the dial-in number and passcode, media should contact the Kennedy newsroom no later than one hour before the start of the event at [email protected].The SPHEREx and PUNCH live launch broadcast will begin at 9:15 p.m., Thursday, March 6, and stream live on NASA+.Visit the NASA website for more information about SPHEREx and PUNCH.
https://blogs.nasa.gov/spherex/2025/03/03/nasa-spacex-update-launch-date-for-spherex-punch-missions/
NASA, SpaceX Update Launch Date for SPHEREx, PUNCH MissionsNASA and SpaceX now are targeting no earlier than Friday, March 7, for the launch of the agency’s SPHEREx and PUNCH missions due to the availability of a launch opportunity on the Western range.The launch window opens at 10:09 p.m. EST (7:09 p.m. PST) from Space Launch Complex 4 East (SLC-4E) at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.The prelaunch news briefing now is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. on Thursday, March 6, with coverage streaming live on NASA+. Media may ask questions via phone. For the dial-in number and passcode, media should contact the Kennedy newsroom no later than one hour before the start of the event at [email protected].The SPHEREx and PUNCH live launch broadcast will begin at 9:15 p.m., Friday, March 7, and stream live on NASA+.Visit the NASA website for more information about SPHEREx and PUNCH.
Wondering why the usual fairing-catcher Go Crusader/Go Beyond is still in port this morning. Would they discard fairings on a RTLS launch? Or did they slip another ship into the lineup while I wasn’t watching?
Prelaunch News Briefing Delayed for SPHEREx and PUNCH MissionsNASA will not hold the SPHEREx and PUNCH prelaunch news conference on Thursday, March 6. The agency will update with more information shortly.
NASA and SpaceX now are targeting no earlier than Saturday, March 8, for the launch of the agency’s SPHEREx and PUNCH missions. The additional time will allow SpaceX to complete rocket preparations ahead of liftoff.The launch window opens at 10:09 p.m. EST (7:09 p.m. PST) from Space Launch Complex 4 East (SLC-4E) at Vandenberg Space Force Base in CaliforniaThe prelaunch news briefing now is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. on Friday, March 7, with coverage streaming live on NASA+. Media may ask questions via phone. For the dial-in number and passcode, media should contact the Kennedy newsroom no later than one hour before the start of the event at [email protected].The SPHEREx and PUNCH live launch broadcast will begin at 9:15 p.m., Saturday, March 8, and stream live on NASA+.
Quit moving it! Chance of seeing jellyfish is feasible and should be gone with the time change.
quit moving it! chance of seeing jellyfish is feasible and should be gone with the time change.
SpaceX is targeting Saturday, March 8 for Falcon 9’s launch of NASA’s SPHEREx Observatory and PUNCH satellites from Space Launch Complex 4 East (SLC-4E) at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. Liftoff is targeted for 7:10 p.m. PT. If needed, a backup opportunity is available on Sunday, March 9 at the same time.A live webcast of this mission will begin about one hour prior to liftoff, which you can watch here and on X @SpaceX. You can also watch the webcast on the new X TV app.This is the third flight for the first stage booster supporting this mission, which previously launched NROL-126 and Transporter-12. Following stage separation, the first stage will land on Landing Zone 4 (LZ-4) at Vandenberg Space Force Base.There is the possibility that residents of and visitors to Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, and Ventura counties may hear one or more sonic booms during the launch, but what residents experience will depend on weather and other conditions.During its two-year mission, the SPHEREx (Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization and Ices Explorer) Observatory will collect data on more than 450 million galaxies and more than 100 million stars to improve our understanding of how the universe evolved while also searching for water and oxygen molecules. The PUNCH (Polarimeter to Unify the Corona and Heliosphere) satellites will observe the Sun and its environment to help scientists better understand the effect of solar winds on our solar system.
Quote from: rsmath on 03/07/2025 05:50 amQuit moving it! Chance of seeing jellyfish is feasible and should be gone with the time change.Unfortunately, Falcon 9 and its payload are just not ready. As much as I want to see the jellyfish effect too, that's how space programs work
If they aren't ready, why even submit a launch data/time to regulators?They keep saying "need additional time for launch preparations", but all I think when I read that is that they needed all hands on deck for Starship, and now that the test is over, they must be investigating the recent Falcon 9 issue otherwise why aren't they ready since they've posted launch attempt targets for over a week now.
Watch NASA's prelaunch update for SPHEREx and PUNCH missions. The SPHEREx space telescope will survey the sky in optical and infrared light, gathering data on more than 450 million galaxies, and 100 million stars in our own galaxy. PUNCH will use four suitcase-sized satellites in low Earth orbit to observe the Sun, and tell us more about the space weather that can impact communications on Earth.The launch window opens at 10:09 p.m. EST (7:09 p.m. PST) on Saturday, March 8, for the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket that will lift off from Space Launch Complex 4 East at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.Join experts from NASA, SpaceX, and the U.S. Air Force to discuss the prelaunch status.Participants:Mark Clampin, acting deputy associate administrator, Science Mission Directorate, NASA HeadquartersJames Fanson, SPHEREx project manager, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory David Cheney, PUNCH program executive, NASADenton Gibson, launch manager, NASA’s Launch Services ProgramJulianna Scheiman, director, NASA Science Missions, SpaceX1st Lt. Ina Park, launch weather officer, 30th Operations Support Squadron, U.S. Air ForceFor more information on SPHEREx, visit www.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/spherex/For more information on PUNCH, visit science.nasa.gov/mission/punch/
The SpaceX West Coast recovery ship GO Beyond is getting into position to recover the Falcon 9 fairing for the SPHEREx & PUNCH mission later today
090404Z MAR 25HYDROPAC 613/25(76,83).SOUTH PACIFIC.DNC 06.1. HAZARDOUS OPERATIONS, SPACE DEBRIS 0453Z TO 0541Z DAILY 11 THRU 17 MAR IN AREA BOUND BY 39-37.00S 177-11.00W, 41-15.00S 172-09.00W, 22-31.00S 167-56.00W, 22-35.00S 171-18.00W.2. CANCEL HYDROPAC 561/25.3. CANCEL THIS MSG 170641Z MAR 25.
090414Z MAR 25NAVAREA XII 142/25(18).EASTERN NORTH PACIFIC.CALIFORNIA.1. HAZARDOUS OPERATIONS, SPACE DEBRIS 0304Z TO 0345Z DAILY 11 THRU 17 MAR IN AREAS BOUND BY: A. 30-17.00N 121-16.00W, 29-42.00N 121-47.00W, 29-45.00N 122-37.00W, 30-30.00N 122-50.00W, 31-00.00N 122-13.00W, 31-00.00N 121-24.00W. B. 34-41.00N 120-42.00W, 34-41.00N 120-27.00W, 34-26.00N 120-27.00W, 30-57.00N 121-49.00W, 30-59.00N 121-57.00W.2. CANCEL NAVAREA XII 127/25.3. CANCEL THIS MSG 170445Z MAR 25.
At the SPHEREx and PUNCH Pre-Launch News Conference one of the reasons stated for the launch delay was an integration problem with the “impedance mismatch assembly” that has 120 inserts that got “ovalized”. This resulted in fasteners being replaced. Maybe everyone else knows what this means but I’d like to get a plain English explanation. This is a link to the news conference cued to the response I https://www.youtube.com/live/_ueVZ63fZ4A?si=NCoOHT_WqIw4jRxj&t=1570
https://blogs.nasa.gov/spherex/2025/03/09/nasa-spacex-set-new-date-for-two-science-missions/NASA, SpaceX Set New Date for Two Science MissionsNASA and SpaceX set a new launch date of no earlier than Monday, March 10 for the launch of the agency’s SPHEREx and PUNCH missions on a Falcon 9 rocket. With the change to Daylight Saving Time, the launch is now targeted for 11:10 p.m. EDT (8:10 p.m. PDT) from Space Launch Complex 4 East (SLC-4E) at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.The SPHEREx and PUNCH live launch broadcast will begin at 10:15 p.m., March 10, and stream live NASA+. Visit the NASA website for more information about SPHEREx and PUNCH.
Quote from: rsmath on 03/07/2025 05:50 amQuit moving it! Chance of seeing jellyfish is feasible and should be gone with the time change.Unfortunately, Falcon 9 and its payload are just not ready. As much as I want to see the jellyfish effect too, that's how space programs work. Launches get delayed for various reasons, one of them being "needing more time to double-check everything even though all appears to be GO". It is annoying, yes, but bear with SpaceX. They'll send it eventually.
Any news of launch time to the second?
The launch window opens at 7:09:56 p.m. PST on Saturday, March 8, with a target launch time of 7:10:12 p.m. PST.
Targeted Launch Time7:10 p.m. PST (10:10 p.m. EST), regardless of launch day
[Starlink 12-21] is scheduled to begin just 11 minutes after a Falcon 9 launch from VSFB.
rsmath,With the added delays and changes in time, the launch is way past any available light to make a jellyfish possible. Sorry
Marina Jurica@MJuricaCBS47They keep scrubbing SphereX! Upper level winds do pick up tonight, but it’ll be the best night of the week for sure!10:38 AM · Mar 10, 2025
Quote from: catdlr on 03/10/2025 10:21 amQuote from: Galactic Penguin SST on 03/10/2025 12:42 amrsmath,With the added delays and changes in time, the launch is way past any available light to make a jellyfish possible. Sorryare you sure? 8:10 PM VSFB launch time is in nautical twilight so it could be sunlit at the high altitude it takes to get over my horizon. I'm going to be checking anyway as it doesn't cost me anything to try.The twilight forecast for tonight's launch (at 7:10 p.m. PT,) now falls into the CIVIL Twilight.
Quote from: Galactic Penguin SST on 03/10/2025 12:42 amrsmath,With the added delays and changes in time, the launch is way past any available light to make a jellyfish possible. Sorryare you sure? 8:10 PM VSFB launch time is in nautical twilight so it could be sunlit at the high altitude it takes to get over my horizon. I'm going to be checking anyway as it doesn't cost me anything to try.
The twilight forecast for tonight's launch (at 7:10 p.m. PT,) now falls into the CIVIL Twilight.
Quote from: catdlr on 03/11/2025 12:13 amThe twilight forecast for tonight's launch (at 7:10 p.m. PT,) now falls into the CIVIL Twilight.it's 8:10 PM PDT according to SpaceX website.
Weather officials are predicting a 20% chance of favorable weather conditions for today’s launch, with the thick cloud rule serving as the primary weather concern.
NASA and SpaceX stood down from today’s launch attempt of SPHEREx and PUNCH due to weather at the launch site and a SPHEREx ground data-flow issue.The next launch attempt is Tuesday, March 11 with liftoff targeted for 8:10 pm PDT (11:10 pm EDT).
All systems are looking good for tonight's Falcon 9 launch of @NASA's SPHEREx and PUNCH missions. Teams are keeping an eye on weather ahead of liftoff
Watch Falcon 9 launch @NASA’s SPHEREx Observatory and PUNCH satellites to orbit from California.
About 8 minutes after liftoff, Falcon 9’s first stage will return to Landing Zone 4 (LZ-4) at Vandenberg Space Force Base, announcing its arrival with a sonic boom unique to reusable vehicles returning from space → http://spacex.com/updates/#starship-sonic-boom
10 mins from Falcon 9 launch from Vandy and 50 mins from the Starlink launch from SLC-40:https://youtube.com/live/43Syg1DzYyQ
Falcon 9 lifts off from pad 4E in California!
PUNCH and SPHEREx are taking a carpool to space (aboard a @SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket) after launching from @SLDelta30 at 11:10 pm ET (0310 UTC).
LAUNCH! SpaceX Falcon 9 B1088-3 launches SphereX and PUNCH from Vandenberg.Overview:https://nasaspaceflight.com/2025/03/spherex-punch-launch/Live doubleheader:https://youtube.com/live/43Syg1DzYyQ
Falcon 9 lands at LZ-4.
Deployment of @NASA’s SPHEREx Observatory complete, beginning the telescope’s two-year mission to collect data on more than 450 million galaxies and 100+ million stars in the Milky Way.
View of @NASA's SPHEREx and Earth shortly after deployment
All four PUNCH satellites deployed.
All mission instruments have successfully deployed, and SPHEREx and PUNCH mission teams will wait to confirm signal. Watch as SPHEREx slowly moves away from the rocket's second stage and begins its journey.
Fare thee well, SPHEREx & PUNCH! 🫡Updated orbital launch count as of Mar. 12:Earth 🌎 — 47/48USA 🇺🇸 — 30/30China 🇨🇳 — 11/12Russia 🏳️ — 3/3India 🇮🇳 — 1/1Japan 🇯🇵 — 1/1France 🇫🇷 — 1/1
🚀This concludes our launch coverage of NASA’s SPHEREx and PUNCH missions!You can track the SPHEREx observatory on NASA Eyes here: https://eyes.nasa.gov/apps/solar-system/#/sc_spherex…
Mar 11, 2025Footage from Los Angeles, CA.SPHEREx and PUNCH on a rideshare mission. Liftoff from pad 4E at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California March 11th 2025.
SPHEREx deploy, 3 minute pass now over Troll, Antarctica; then Fairbanks AK station pass half orbit later.No communication yet with SPHEREx.
NASA’s SPHEREx (Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization and Ices Explorer) mission controllers celebrate acquisition of signal after launch on Tuesday, March 11, 2025. Photo credit: NASA+NASA’s SPHEREx (Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization and Ices Explorer) mission controllers on Earth have received full acquisition of signal from the observatory, indicating the spacecraft is functioning nominally and is power positive. In the weeks ahead, the SPHEREx team will prepare the observatory for its survey operations – conducting calibrations, cooling the telescope to its designed operating temperature, and characterizing its optical performance in space. Over a two-year planned mission, SPHEREx will then collect data on more than 450 million galaxies along with more than 100 million stars in the Milky Way in order to explore the origins of the universe, contributing to NASA Science’s key goals to discover the secrets of the universe and search for life elsewhere. The mission’s 3D all-sky map will help scientists answer big-picture questions about the universe. The mission will investigate a cosmic phenomenon called inflation that caused the universe to expand rapidly for a fraction of a second after the big bang, measure the collective glow created by galaxies near and far, including hidden galaxies that have not been individually observed, and search the Milky Way galaxy for hidden reservoirs of water, carbon dioxide, and other essential ingredients for life. The SPHEREx mission’s ability to scan large sections of the sky quickly and gather data on millions of objects complements the work of more targeted telescopes, like NASA’s Hubble and James Webb, and the observatory’s data will be freely available to scientists around the world, providing a new encyclopedia of information about hundreds of millions of cosmic objects. Join the online conversation and get mission updates from these accounts: X: @NASA, @NASAJPL, @NASAUniverse, @NASASun, @NASAKennedy, @NASA_LSP Facebook: NASA, NASA’s JPL, NASA Universe, NASASunScience, NASA’s Launch Services ProgramInstagram: @NASA, @NASAKennedy, @NASAJPL, @NASAUniverse For more information about the SPHEREx and PUNCH missions, visit: https://science.nasa.gov/mission/spherex/ https://science.nasa.gov/mission/punch/ This concludes NASA’s live launch coverage.
Thanks for the coverage!I might have been able to see it from all the way in San Diego! (We didn't see the plume that we've seen for a few Starlink launches, but I was able to make out something that looked like a faint red star moving at about the right speed - and a cone behind it for a brief time - before it passed behind a cloud. I went outside just after stage separation)I was going to ask this earlier today about yesterday's so as not to interrupt the flow of launch coverage, but I may as well ask now:They said last night that they don't launch through clouds of a certain thickness as this can cause lighting which could then damage the LV, is that correct? Did I misunderstand? Sorry if this is a rookie question
Quote from: jbenton on 03/12/2025 03:46 am[snip]I was going to ask this earlier today about yesterday's so as not to interrupt the flow of launch coverage, but I may as well ask now:They said last night that they don't launch through clouds of a certain thickness as this can cause lighting which could then damage the LV, is that correct? Did I misunderstand? Sorry if this is a rookie questionCorrect, specifically if the clouds are of low temperature.This is called the Thick Cloud Rulehttps://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2020/05/why-weather-rules-exist/
[snip]I was going to ask this earlier today about yesterday's so as not to interrupt the flow of launch coverage, but I may as well ask now:They said last night that they don't launch through clouds of a certain thickness as this can cause lighting which could then damage the LV, is that correct? Did I misunderstand? Sorry if this is a rookie question
CelesTrak has GP data for 5 objects from the launch (2025-047) of SPHEREx & PUNCH atop a Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg SFB on Mar 12 at 0310 UTC: https://spacenews.com/falcon-9-launches-nasa-astrophysics-and-heliophysics-missions/. Data for the launch can be found at: https://celestrak.org/NORAD/elements/table.php?INTDES=2025-047.
NASA’s SPHEREx space observatory, which launched into low Earth orbit on March 11, has opened its eyes to the sky. On March 18, the mission team commanded the spacecraft to eject the protective dust cover that shielded the telescope opening. Once science operations begin several weeks from now, SPHEREx (short for Specto-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization, and Ices Explorer) will map the entire celestial sky to answer fundamental questions about the universe.Measuring about 25 inches by 16 inches (64 centimeters by 40 centimeters), the cover kept particles and moisture off key pieces of hardware, including three telescope mirrors. To complete the ejection, engineers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California sent a command to SPHEREx that activated two mechanical release mechanisms on the protective lid, and springs helped push it away from the observatory. After being ejected, the cover began to float away and will eventually burn up in Earth’s atmosphere.The mission won’t power on the spacecraft’s camera until it has cooled to its operating temperature, which is colder than minus 300 degrees Fahrenheit (about minus 190 degrees Celsius). So to confirm the cover’s removal, team members observed a change in SPHEREx’s orientation — essentially, a slight jiggle of the observatory after each mechanism release. Shortly after the second jiggle, the telescope’s temperature began to drop, indicating it was exposed to the cold of space as planned.
NASA’s SPHEREx (short for Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization and Ices Explorer) has turned on its detectors for the first time in space. Initial images from the observatory, which launched March 11, confirm that all systems are working as expected.Although the new images are uncalibrated and not yet ready to use for science, they give a tantalizing look at SPHEREx’s wide view of the sky. Each bright spot is a source of light, like a star or galaxy, and each image is expected to contain more than 100,000 detected sources.There are six images in every SPHEREx exposure — one for each detector. The top three images show the same area of sky as the bottom three images. This is the observatory’s full field of view, a rectangular area about 20 times wider than the full Moon. When SPHEREx begins routine science operations in late April, it will take approximately 600 exposures every day.“Our spacecraft has opened its eyes on the universe,” said Olivier Doré, SPHEREx project scientist at Caltech and NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, both in Southern California. “It’s performing just as it was designed to.”The SPHEREx observatory detects infrared light, which is invisible to the human eye. To make these first images, science team members assigned a visible color to every infrared wavelength captured by the observatory. Each of the six SPHEREx detectors has 17 unique wavelength bands, for a total of 102 hues in every six-image exposure.Breaking down color this way can reveal the composition of an object or the distance to a galaxy. With that data, scientists can study topics ranging from the physics that governed the universe less than a second after its birth to the origins of water in our galaxy.“This is the high point of spacecraft checkout; it’s the thing we wait for,” said Beth Fabinsky, SPHEREx deputy project manager at JPL. “There’s still work to do, but this is the big payoff. And wow! Just wow!”During the past two weeks, scientists and engineers at JPL, which manages the mission for NASA, have executed a series of spacecraft checks that show all is well so far. In addition, SPHEREx’s detectors and other hardware have been cooling down to their final temperature of around minus 350 degrees Fahrenheit (about minus 210 degrees Celsius). This is necessary because heat can overwhelm the telescope’s ability to detect infrared light, which is sometimes called heat radiation. The new images also show that the telescope is focused correctly. Focusing is done entirely before launch and cannot be adjusted in space.“Based on the images we are seeing, we can now say that the instrument team nailed it,” said Jamie Bock, SPHEREx’s principal investigator at Caltech and JPL.
NASA’s PUNCH (Polarimeter to Unify the Corona and Heliosphere) mission successfully completed spacecraft commissioning this week, opening its instrument doors to capture “first light”, the mission’s first images of the Sun’s outer atmosphere and the surrounding space. This is the first step in revealing new details of how the solar atmosphere unfolds and streams through the solar system. Now, mission operation teams will continue the commissioning phase for the spacecraft’s instruments.On April 14, the Narrow Field Imager (NFI) and one of the mission’s three Wide Field Imagers (WFI) opened its instrument doors and captured the first images for the mission. On April 16, the remaining WFIs opened their doors and also started capturing images. The first NFI image shows star fields with the Sun near the center of the image. The image was filtered to emphasize background star fields, which was obscured by zodiacal light, a very faint diffuse glow from dust orbiting the Sun.Throughout the commissioning phase, scientists will be calibrating this view to better reveal details the Sun’s corona, or wispy outer atmosphere. This calibration process will remove about 99% of the light from the corona, enabling scientists to track the faint threads of solar material as they flow outward throughout space.The WFI image below, taken April 14, shows the wide field of view from WFI and is marked with labeled constellations. As commissioning progresses, the PUNCH team will be removing the star fields and other background light from all images to highlight the faint stream of solar wind as it travels toward Earth.These early images confirm a crucial milestone: the cameras onboard PUNCH’s four satellites are in focus and functioning as designed.The PUNCH mission will make global, 3D observations of the inner solar system and the Sun’s outer atmosphere, the corona, to learn how its mass and energy become the solar wind, a stream of charged particles blowing outward from the Sun in all directions. The mission will explore the formation and evolution of space weather events such as coronal mass ejections, which can create storms of energetic particle radiation that can endanger spacecraft and astronauts.During this first phase of the commissioning period, the team at mission control at Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colorado, worked to assure that the four satellites were functioning correctly and are moving into the proper orbit around Earth and distance from each other to create the PUNCH constellation.The PUNCH satellites include one NFI and three WFIs. The NFI is a coronagraph, which blocks out the bright light from the Sun to better see details in the Sun’s corona. The WFIs are heliospheric imagers that view the very faint, outermost portion of the solar corona and the solar wind itself. Once the PUNCH satellites reach their targeted alignment, the images from these instruments will be stitched together to create the wide view of the journey of the Sun’s corona and solar wind to Earth.Once the commissioning is complete, PUNCH will provide the first-ever imagery of the solar wind and coronal mass ejections in polarized light, enabling scientists to discern new information about this activity.
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.Launched on March 11, NASA’s SPHEREx space observatory has spent the last six weeks undergoing checkouts, calibrations, and other activities to ensure it is working as it should. Now it’s mapping the entire sky — not just a large part of it — to chart the positions of hundreds of millions of galaxies in 3D to answer some big questions about the universe. On May 1, the spacecraft began regular science operations, which consist of taking about 3,600 images per day for the next two years to provide new insights about the origins of the universe, galaxies, and the ingredients for life in the Milky Way.“Thanks to the hard work of teams across NASA, industry, and academia that built this mission, SPHEREx is operating just as we’d expected and will produce maps of the full sky unlike any we’ve had before,” said Shawn Domagal-Goldman, acting director of the Astrophysics Division at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “This new observatory is adding to the suite of space-based astrophysics survey missions leading up to the launch of NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope. Together with these other missions, SPHEREx will play a key role in answering the big questions about the universe we tackle at NASA every day.”From its perch in Earth orbit, SPHEREx peers into the darkness, pointing away from the planet and the Sun. The observatory will complete more than 11,000 orbits over its 25 months of planned survey operations, circling Earth about 14½ times a day. It orbits Earth from north to south, passing over the poles, and each day it takes images along one circular strip of the sky. As the days pass and the planet moves around the Sun, SPHEREx’s field of view shifts as well so that after six months, the observatory will have looked out into space in every direction.When SPHEREx takes a picture of the sky, the light is sent to six detectors that each produces a unique image capturing different wavelengths of light. These groups of six images are called an exposure, and SPHEREx takes about 600 exposures per day. When it’s done with one exposure, the whole observatory shifts position — the mirrors and detectors don’t move as they do on some other telescopes. Rather than using thrusters, SPHEREx relies on a system of reaction wheels, which spin inside the spacecraft to control its orientation.Hundreds of thousands of SPHEREx’s images will be digitally woven together to create four all-sky maps in two years. By mapping the entire sky, the mission will provide new insights about what happened in the first fraction of a second after the big bang. In that brief instant, an event called cosmic inflation caused the universe to expand a trillion-trillionfold.“We’re going to study what happened on the smallest size scales in the universe’s earliest moments by looking at the modern universe on the largest scales,” said Jim Fanson, the mission’s project manager at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. “I think there’s a poetic arc to that.”Cosmic inflation subtly influenced the distribution of matter in the universe, and clues about how such an event could happen are written into the positions of galaxies across the universe. When cosmic inflation began, the universe was smaller than the size of an atom, but the properties of that early universe were stretched out and influence what we see today. No other known event or process involves the amount of energy that would have been required to drive cosmic inflation, so studying it presents a unique opportunity to understand more deeply how our universe works.“Some of us have been working toward this goal for 12 years,” said Jamie Bock, the mission’s principal investigator at Caltech and JPL. “The performance of the instrument is as good as we hoped. That means we’re going to be able to do all the amazing science we planned on and perhaps even get some unexpected discoveries.”Color FieldThe SPHEREx observatory won’t be the first to map the entire sky, but it will be the first to do so in so many colors. It observes 102 wavelengths, or colors, of infrared light, which are undetectable to the human eye. Through a technique called spectroscopy, the telescope separates the light into wavelengths — much like a prism creates a rainbow from sunlight — revealing all kinds of information about cosmic sources.For example, spectroscopy can be harnessed to determine the distance to a faraway galaxy, information that can be used to turn a 2D map of those galaxies into a 3D one. The technique will also enable the mission to measure the collective glow from all the galaxies that ever existed and see how that glow has changed over cosmic time.And spectroscopy can reveal the composition of objects. Using this capability, the mission is searching for water and other key ingredients for life in these systems in our galaxy. It’s thought that the water in Earth’s oceans originated as frozen water molecules attached to dust in the interstellar cloud where the Sun formed.The SPHEREx mission will make over 9 million observations of interstellar clouds in the Milky Way, mapping these materials across the galaxy and helping scientists understand how different conditions can affect the chemistry that produced many of the compounds found on Earth today.
• Orbit injection was spot on, within ~200 m from the required orbit[...]FIRST LIGHT ON MARCH 27TH 2025!• From this image and the previous days, we could tell right away that:➡ The covered deployed and is tracked➡ MOI is within 2% from the ground estimate➡ The instrument is in focus➡ The cooling is nominal and we are now the coolest object ever in LEO (past DIRBE)➡ The decontamination worked well and there is no ice on the mirror➡ Detector electronics performs nominally➡ Photo-current and gains are just as expected given our ground testing campaign➡ On-board processing is working perfectly➡ PAH (Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons) and other Galactic emission lines abound!• Mini-survey practice are now on-going• Further observations are planned in the coming two weeks to fully test the spacecraft andfully quantify the above• The science survey should start the second half of April
As instrument commissioning and calibration checks continue for NASA’s newly launched PUNCH (Polarimeter to Unify the Corona and Heliosphere) mission, its four spacecraft continue to deliver new images — including its first rainbow-colored view of the sky and the first images taken by two of its instruments.The goal of PUNCH is to reveal new details of how the solar atmosphere, or corona, unfolds and streams through the solar system as the solar wind. It is the first mission designed to measure the corona and solar wind in three dimensions by studying the polarization of light, which is the direction light travels after it has been scattered by particles. In PUNCH’s images, the polarization is revealed through color coding, resulting in a rainbow image that gives scientists new insight on the solar wind’s movement.Collectively, PUNCH’s four satellites include one Narrow Field Imager (NFI) and three Wide Field Imagers (WFIs). The NFI is a coronagraph, which blocks out the bright light from the Sun to better see details in the Sun’s corona. The WFIs are heliospheric imagers that view the very faint, outermost portion of the solar corona and the solar wind itself.The mission’s fully processed science data will stitch together views from all four spacecraft and remove artifacts from the background of space and the cameras themselves. These early images help the mission team confirm that PUNCH’s cameras are in focus, working properly, and able to capture the quality observations needed to achieve the mission’s goals. Throughout the remainder of the commissioning phase, scientists will calibrate the instruments’ views to reveal illuminating details the Sun’s corona.
NASA’s PUNCH (Polarimeter to Unify the Corona and Heliosphere) mission has released its first images of large solar eruptions called coronal mass ejections, or CMEs. The images were presented Tuesday at the 246th American Astronomical Society meeting in Anchorage, Alaska.The images, stitched into a video, show giant CMEs, growing as they travel across the inner solar system. The mission’s highly sensitive, wide-field instruments were able to capture the whole CMEs, as they evolved in space, in much greater detail than previously possible. This big-picture view is essential to helping scientists better understand and predict space weather, which is driven by CMEs and can disrupt communications, endanger satellites, and create auroras at Earth. The series of new images also show Venus, Jupiter, several constellations including Orion, and the Pleiades star cluster. The Moon can also be seen in the sequence of images. The images were taken with PUNCH’s four cameras, which work together as a single “virtual instrument.” Three Wide Field Imagers, which observe the faint, outermost portion of the Sun’s atmosphere and solar wind (the continual stream of charged particles from the Sun), work with a Narrow Field Imager (NFI), a coronagraph which allows scientists to see details in the Sun’s atmosphere by blocking out the bright light of the Sun itself. A still image from NFI reveals the intricate, detailed structure of a CME departing the Sun on June 3. The four cameras are hosted across PUNCH’s four satellites.“These first images are astonishing, but the best is still yet to come,” said Craig DeForest, PUNCH principal investigator from Southwest Research Institute’s Solar System Science and Exploration Division in Boulder, Colorado. “Once the spacecraft are in their final formation, we’ll be able to routinely track space weather in 3D across the entire inner solar system.”
All four spacecraft of NASA’s PUNCH (Polarimeter to Unify the Corona and Heliosphere) mission have successfully maneuvered into their final science orbits as of Aug 7.Launched into Earth orbit on March 11, PUNCH’s four suitcase-sized spacecraft are now spread out along the planet’s day-night boundary, giving the mission a continuous, unobstructed view of the Sun and its surroundings. This allows the mission to study how the Sun’s outer atmosphere, or corona, turns into a constant outflow of material that travels across the solar system, called the solar wind.“We want to measure the solar wind globally around the star in near real time,” said PUNCH’s principal investigator, Craig DeForest of the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colorado. “The planet gets in the way from the point of view of any one spacecraft, so we had to spread them around the planet to look everywhere all at once.”One of PUNCH’s spacecraft hosts a Narrow Field Imager, while the other three each carry a Wide Field Imager. The Narrow Field Imager is a coronagraph, which blocks out the bright light from the Sun to better reveal details in the Sun’s corona. The Wide Field Imagers capture images of the outermost portion of the solar corona and the solar wind in the inner solar system. The mission then combines these individual views into a wide-field mosaic that allows PUNCH to track space weather events from the Sun all the way to Earth.This sprawling perspective from PUNCH complements observations from other heliophysics missions — such as NASA’s Parker Solar Probe, STEREO, SOHO, and CODEX along with the NASA/ESA (European Space Agency) Solar Orbiter mission — that examine the corona and solar wind at smaller scales and from different perspectives. Together, these missions provide a more complete picture of the corona and solar wind than we’ve ever had before.“The PUNCH mission provides the global picture that we can combine with all those other missions to really understand this full, connected system between the Sun and the Earth,” said Nicholeen Viall, PUNCH mission scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.In addition, PUNCH’s early combined views are now available publicly as “Level 2” science data. To bring out details in the faint corona and solar wind, the PUNCH images require multiple steps or “levels” of processing, from 0 (least processed) to 3 (fully processed). Level 2 data are nearly fully processed, and they stitch together images from the different spacecraft into a mosaic, as if they were taken by a single science instrument at the same time.
One of NASA's new PUNCH satellites got smacked by a micrometeorite. You can see bits of debris flying off at bottom left!Fortunately, PUNCH is OK, continuing to monitor storms on the Sun. (Colors here indicate polarization of light in the Sun's corona.)
While testing in-development data visualization tools, Science Operations Center scientist Ritesh Patel noticed this colorful display in preliminary data from the PUNCH constellation. Hue represents direction of polarization, and saturation represents degree of polarization. The extended solar corona is visible against the starfield, with the constellations Libra and Scorpio visible near the Sun at the center of the field of view. At this moment, one of the WFI spacecraft suffered a collision with a micrometeoroid, launching tiny fragments of the spacecraft itself outward through the instrument’s field of view. The fragments can be seen arcing across the field, leaving brilliantly colored tracks as they were captured through the three polarizers in turn.Small debris impacts like this one rattle the spacecraft but generally do not harm PUNCH, which was designed to be able to weather them. Most satellites encounter impacts like this one. Famously, Space Shuttle tiles and even some of the outermost window panes were damaged by orbital-speed impacts with flecks of paint and other tiny grains. But imaging the resulting bits of spacecraft is more rare, as most missions don’t have the wide imaging field of view that WFI does.These tiny pieces of PUNCH aren’t heavy enough to stay in orbit for long: drag forces from the extremely thin atmosphere at PUNCH’s 640 km (400 mile) altitude will make each PUNCH re-enter in about 24 years, but the tiny dust motes pictured here are expected to have re-entered the atmosphere less than a week after they were created.
To study the Sun’s outer atmosphere, or corona, each of the PUNCH mission spacecraft are outfitted with a camera that works with the others as a single “virtual instrument.” One PUNCH spacecraft hosts a Narrow Field Imager, which is a coronagraph designed to block out the bright radius of light from the Sun’s disk to reveal the faint, wispy details of the Sun’s corona, or outer atmosphere. The other three PUNCH spacecraft each carry a Wide Field Imager that captures images of the outermost portion of the solar corona and the solar wind. The mission then combines these individual views into a wide-field mosaic that allows PUNCH to track space weather events from the Sun all the way to Earth. In the video, PUNCH captured several CMEs erupting from the Sun’s surface over several weeks. These ejections led to intense geomagnetic storms on Earth, with one particular storm in mid-November rated as G4, or severe. According to NOAA’s (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) Space Weather Prediction Center, the G4 rank is the second highest level, indicating elevated risks of serious disturbances to Earth’s magnetic field and increased radiation exposure. Such geomagnetic storms can have a significant impact on human society and technology, from sparking and intensifying auroras to interfering with satellites or triggering power outages. The storm on Nov. 11 resulted in widespread auroras seen as far south as Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, and Florida in the United States. Though designed to observe CMEs, the PUNCH spacecraft tracks other objects journeying through our inner solar system. For example, the imagery also captured comet Lemmon (C/2025 A6), top portion of the video, making an appearance when the comet was passing close to Earth.Delivering extra PUNCH with refined imagesThe PUNCH mission’s four suitcase-sized spacecraft are spread out along Earth’s day-night boundary, giving the mission a continuous, unobstructed view of the Sun and its surroundings. This allows the mission to study how the Sun’s corona turns into a constant outflow of material that travels across the solar system, called the solar wind.The solar wind and energetic solar events like flares and CMEs can create space weather effects throughout the solar system. The measurements from PUNCH will provide scientists with new information about how these potentially disruptive events form and evolve. This could lead to more accurate predictions about the arrival of space weather events on Earth and related impacts on humanity’s robotic and human explorers in space.To bring out details in the faint corona and solar wind, PUNCH images require multiple steps or “levels” of processing, from 0 (least processed) to 3 (fully processed). The PUNCH team is now releasing Level 3 data but continues to work on perfecting the imagery.“The current data release is still preliminary, as we continue to refine the ground calibration to the exquisite level we need to reach our final sensitivity,” said Craig DeForest, PUNCH’s principal investigator at the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colorado. “This release is a milestone because, although we still have work to do, these are the first data products that can be used directly to track CMEs and other events through the outer solar corona and inner heliosphere.”With each iteration and release, the team is reprocessing prior images downlinked from the mission, so the quality of the PUNCH data products will continuously improve.The PUNCH images are available for download from NASA’s Solar Data Analysis Center, and more information about the data is available at the Southwest Research Institute’s data access page. Scientists also use PUNCH’s observations of the corona and heliosphere in a project known as QuickPUNCH to support space weather forecasting operations.
The infrared observatory circles the Earth, taking 3600 images per day along one strip of the sky. As the planet moves around the Sun, SPHEREx's field of view shifts so that, in six months, the observatory creates a 360-degree mosaic that covers the entire sky, like this!
