Description

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Context:

NASA launched two space missions—SPHEREx and PUNCH—aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Space Force Base, California.

News in Detail

SPHEREx (Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization and Ices Explorer) is an astrophysics observatory. It aims to map the entire sky to study the origins of the universe, understand galaxy formation, and detect key molecules necessary for life in our Milky Way.

PUNCH (Polarimeter to Unify the Corona and Heliosphere) consists of four small satellites designed to observe how the Sun’s outer atmosphere transforms into the solar wind, which constantly impacts Earth’s space environment.

These two missions will operate from low Earth orbit and contribute to both cosmology and solar physics.

Objectives of the SPHEREx mission

It will measure the light from 450 million galaxies to analyze how the universe expanded just after the Big Bang (during the inflationary period).

It will capture the cosmic infrared background, which holds information about early galaxies.

It will study the formation of stars and how galaxies evolved over billions of years.

It will scan the Milky Way for water ice and organic molecules like carbon dioxide on dust grains around young stars.

What role does PUNCH play in this mission?

PUNCH is a separate mission that connected a ride with SPHEREx but has an entirely different objective: studying the solar wind and space weather.

The Sun constantly emits charged particles, creating the solar wind that affects Earth’s magnetosphere.
PUNCH’s four small satellites will track how the Sun’s corona (outer atmosphere) expands and interacts with interplanetary space.
This mission will provide valuable insights into space weather events like coronal mass ejections (CMEs).