SpaceX and NASA successfully launched the agency’s newest space telescope and solar research mission Tuesday evening. A Falcon 9 lifted off from California with the SPHEREx near-infrared observatory, with the PUNCH heliophysics mission flying as a rideshare.
During its mission, SPHEREx will complete surveys of the entire sky in optical and near-infrared light, observing over 450 million galaxies and more than 100 million stars in the Milky Way. From these surveys, scientists will identify the source of the early universe’s inflation and search for organic molecules throughout the universe. Meanwhile, PUNCH will utilize four small satellites to investigate the Sun’s inner heliosphere and how the corona becomes solar wind.