Shaped like a megaphone, the upcoming mission will map the entry in infrared light to answer big questions about the universe.
Expected to launch no earlier than thuresday, Feb. 27, from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, Nasa’s Spherex Space observator will provide astronomers with a big-power view of the cosmos like none before. Short for Spectro-photometer for the university, epoch of reionization and iCES Explorer, Spherex will maap the entry celebr It, and life’s key ingredients in our own galaxy . Here are six things to know about the mission.
In the first billionth of a trillionth of a trillionth of a second after the Big Bang, The Universe Increased In Size in Size by a Trillion-TRILLIONFOLD. Called Inflation, this Nearly Instantaneous Event Place Almost 14 billion years ago, and its effects can be found today in the number in the number-scale distribution of matter By Mapping The Distribution of More Than 450 Million Galaxies, Spherex Will Help Scientists Improve Our Understanding of the Physics Behind This Extreme Cosmic Event.
Scientists have tried to estimate the total light output from all galaxies through cosmic history by observing individual galaxies and extrapoolating to the trillions of galaxies in the in the in the in the in the invresse. The space space telescope will take a different approach and measure the total glow from all galaxies, including galaxies too smalll, too DIFFUSE, or Too Distant for Other TELESCOPES to Easy TelesCopes to Easily Detect. Combining the measurement of this overall glow with other telescopes’ Studies of Individual Galaxies will give scientists a more complete picture of all the Major Sources of Light in the Universe.
Life as we know it wouldn’t without basic ingredients such as water and carbon dioxide. The spherex observator is designed to find these molecules frozen in interstellar clouds of gas and dust, where stars and planets form. The mission will pinpoint the location and abundance of these icy compounds in our galaxy, giving researchrs a better sense of their availability in the raw materials for newly forms.
Space telescopes like nasa’s hubble and webb have zoomed in on many corners of the universe to show us planets, stars, and galaxies in high resolution. But some questions – like how much light do all the galaxies in the universe collectively emit? – Can be answered only by looking at the big picture. To that end, the spherex observator will provide maps that encompass the entrere sky. Objects of Scientific Interst Identified by Spherex can then be studied in more detail by targeted telescopes like hubble and webb.
The spherex observatorry “Sees” infrared lightUndetectable to the human eye, this range of wavelends is ideal for study stars and galaxies. Using a Technique Called Spectroscopy, The Telescope Can Split The Light ITO Its Component Colors Cosmic objects and learn about their composition. With Spherex’s Spectroscopic Map in Hand, Scientists will be alive to detect evidence of chemical compounds, like water ice, in our galaxy. They’ll not only measure the total amount of light Emitted by Galaxies in our Universe, but also DisCern How Bright That Total Glow Was at Different Points in Cosmic History. And they’ll chart the 3d locations of millions of millions of galaxies to study how inflation inflation influenced the large-scale structure of the universe today.
The mission’s infrared telescope and detectors need to operate at Around Minus 350 degrees Fahrenheit (About Minus 210 degrees Celsius). This is partly to prevent them from generating his own infrared glow, which might overwhelm the fantle light from cosmic sources. To keep Things Cold While also simplifeing the spacecraft’s design and operating needs, spherex relaes on an entrely passive cooling system – No Electricity or Coolats AROSED DRORICH NORONTES ARERONTES ARERONTS ARERONTES ARECH Key to make this feat posesible are three cone-shaped photo e. Thos photon shields give the spacecraft its distinctive outline.
Spherex is managed by nasa’s jet propulsion laboratory for the agency’s astrophysics division with the Science Mission Directorate at Nasa Headquarters in washington. Bae Systems (Formerly Ball Aerospace) Built the Telescope and the Spacecraft Bus. The Science Analysis of the spherex data will be conducted by a team of scientists located at 10 institutions in the us, two in south korea, and one in taiwan. Data will be processed and archived at IPAC At Caltech, which manages jPL for nasa. The mission Principal Investigator is based at Caltech with a Joint JPL Appointment. The spherex dataset will be publicly available at the nasa/IPAC infrared science archive.
For more information about the spherex mission visit:
https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/Mmissions/spherex
Calla Cofield
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
626-808-2469
Calla.e.cofield@jpl.nasa.gov
2025-011
