NASA Just Launched a Universe-Exploring SPHEREx Mission — And It’s Unlike Anything Before

On 11 March 2025, the NASA SPHEREx mission aimed at studying the origin of our universe was successfully sent into space aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. On the same space flight were four small satellites that make up the NASA PUNCH mission with the objective to study the Sun, hence clarifying our understanding of solar storms.

NASA SPHEREx Mission Launches To Clarify Our Understanding Of Our Universe’s Origin

Speaking on this successful launch, Nicky Fox, associate administrator, of the Science Mission Directorate at NASA says that sending both missions on one flight to space “doubles the opportunities to do incredible science in space.” While both missions have different objectives, the teams in charge of their operation will work to ensure that they arrive at low-Earth Sun-synchronous orbit.

The NASA SPHEREx mission will be heading out to the farther parts of our galaxy. As for the PUNCH mission, all four satellites making up this mission will be heading towards the Sun to collect data on the star’s atmosphere.

About an hour after take-off, the SPHEREx mission ground control team at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in South California were able to establish communication with the observatory. The mission will kick off in a month’s time after necessary checks on the SPHEREx observatory are complete.

While operating in a low-Earth Sun-synchronous orbit, the SPHEREx mission will create a 3D map of the celestial sky every six months. This will help the observatory get a wide perspective to help it study in detail the smaller sections of the sky.

Goal Of The NASA SPHEREx Mission

To help the NASA SPHEREx mission achieve its goal in space, it will rely on a technique known as spectroscopy. Spectroscopy is simply the study of absorption and emission of light by splitting it into its various wavelengths.

Using this technique, the observatory will be able to measure our distance from over 450 million galaxies. By measuring the glow of each of these galaxies, the observatory will be able to provide new insight into their formation.

James Fanson, SPHEREx project manager at JPL, identifies some questions that this mission will aim to answer. According to James, these questions are “How did we get here?’ and “Are we alone?’ These are important questions that we need answers to.