Image: NASA / JPL-Caltech
SPHEREx
Mission Profile
| Launch date | 2025-03-12 |
|---|---|
| Launch vehicle | Falcon 9 (rideshare with PUNCH) |
| Spacecraft | SPHEREx observatory |
| Target | Low Earth Orbit |
| Type | Robotic |
| Cost | $488M life-cycle |
| Mass | ~500 kg |
| Duration | 2-year primary survey (four all-sky maps) |
| Partners | NASA JPL (lead), Caltech, BAE Systems (spacecraft), KASI (Korea) |
| Instruments | 20-cm wide-field telescope, Six H2RG detector arrays with linear variable filters (102 spectral bands) |
Overview
SPHEREx — the Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization, and Ices Explorer — is NASA's infrared all-sky survey telescope, launched on 12 March 2025 on a Falcon 9 from Vandenberg alongside the PUNCH heliophysics constellation. From a sun-synchronous polar orbit, the distinctive cone-shielded telescope maps the entire sky in 102 infrared colors every six months — a spectral survey no previous mission has attempted. Survey operations began on 1 May 2025, and by December 2025 SPHEREx had completed its first full all-sky 102-color map. Over its two-year prime mission it will collect spectra for hundreds of millions of galaxies to probe cosmic inflation, chart the collective glow of all galaxies across cosmic history, and inventory water ice and organic molecules in the Milky Way's star-forming clouds — panoramic statistics that complement targeted observatories like JWST.
Key Milestones
2025-03-12
Launch on Falcon 9 from Vandenberg (rideshare with PUNCH)
2025-05-01
All-sky survey operations begin
2025-12
First complete all-sky 102-color map
