Mapping the universe and space weather; 2 NASA satellites launch on big science mission

Yahoo

26-02-2025

SPACE (KXAN) — NASA is creating a map of the universe. On Friday, two satellites will launch aboard a Falcon 9 rocket: SPHEREx and PUNCH. The pair will help us create a panoramic map of the universe and monitor space weather.
'We started to work on SPHEREx twelve years ago. So it's a long time,' said Dr. Olivier Dore, a senior research scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
SPHEREx, a.k.a the Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization and Ices Explorer, is designed to take a panoramic map of the stars. It captures images in 102 colors, allowing it to get an image in greater detail than previous satellites.
'We do that to get new insight about the origin of the universe, the new insight about origin of galaxies, and also new insight about the origin of life,' Dore said.
Finding one of the key building blocks of life is key to SPHEREx's mission. That block: water.
'People might not appreciate the fact that water we have on Earth come from space. So it was acquitted by space, mostly through bombardment of asteroids and comets,' Dore said.
SPHEREx will help track this water down. It will scan young solar systems and search for ice, the form water takes in space. It will measure this ice content to generate a universal water cycle.
Unlike the James Webb Space Telescope, which can observe the distant corner of the universe in great detail, SPHEREx is designed to take a grand look at the night sky.
'It has less details, less sensitivity, but it has this big picture ability,' Dore said.
SPHEREx will perform four mappings over its two-year mission. Each mapping takes six months.
The other mission launching on Friday is called PUNCH, a.k.a. the Polarimeter to Unify the Corona and Heliosphere. This satellite, made up of four smaller satellites, has the ability to observe our sun.
'PUNCH makes artificial eclipses all the time so that we can see that Corona as it turns into the solar wind and fills our solar system with material,' said Dr. Nicholeen Viall, a PUNCH mission scientist, in an interview released by NASA.
By creating this artificial eclipse, the satellite can absorb solar winds in greater detail. This will give us a better understanding of space weather.
Solar winds can impact electronics on Earth. They can also impact our magnetosphere, the magnetic barrier around the planet, and pose safety risks to astronauts.
This year it is especially important to monitor the sun. Solar activity works in cycles and is currently near one of those peaks. PUNCH will help us monitor this activity more accurately.
'We'll be able to tell if they're coming towards the Earth or going away from the Earth or in some other direction in the solar system,' Viall said.
According to Viall, these two missions will give us a better understanding of the 'big picture' of the universe.
'SPHEREx is exploring the big picture of the cosmos, and PUNCH is exploring the big picture of the sun and how it fills our solar system,' she said.
SPHEREx and PUNCH will launch aboard a Falcon 9 rocket on Friday, February 28. The launch window begins at 9:09 p.m. CST.
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