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Set to launch on March 4 aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, SPHEREx will provide a full-sky infrared map like no other, helping scientists uncover mysteries about the early universe, galaxy formation, and the fundamental building blocks of life.
A Telescope That Sees Everything
Unlike other telescopes that focus on specific objects or small sections of the sky, SPHEREx will scan the entire sky four times over the next two years. According to Keighley Rockcliffe, a NASA scientist studying exoplanet atmospheres at Goddard Space Flight Center, this all-sky approach is what makes SPHEREx so exciting:
Using a prism-like spectrophotometer, the telescope will capture infrared light in more than 100 different colors, revealing cosmic structures and chemical signatures that are invisible to the human eye.
Hunting for the Ingredients of Life
One of SPHEREx’s most anticipated discoveries could come from its ability to map the distribution of water and organic molecules—the key ingredients for life. These molecules are hidden within vast molecular clouds, the birthplaces of stars and planets.
Although scientists have detected complex organic compounds in space before, they still don’t know exactly how these life-building molecules travel from interstellar clouds to forming planets. Manasvi Lingam, an astrobiologist at the Florida Institute of Technology, believes that SPHEREx could finally answer this question:
“This mission can improve the data and help make better forecasts about the probability of the origin of life on those worlds.”
By identifying where frozen water molecules and organic compounds are concentrated, the telescope could help scientists predict how common habitable planets are in the universe.
A New Look at the Early Universe
SPHEREx will also tackle one of cosmology’s biggest questions: What happened in the first fraction of a second after the Big Bang? Scientists believe that in the first billionth of a trillionth of a trillionth of a second, the universe underwent a sudden and massive expansion, a phenomenon known as cosmic inflation.
The problem? The physics behind this rapid expansion remain unknown. Olivier Doré, the SPHEREx project scientist, told Space.com.:
“We don’t understand the physics simply because it involved energy scales way beyond anything we can probe on Earth.”
By creating a 3D map of over 450 million galaxies, SPHEREx will trace the faint ripples left behind by cosmic inflation, potentially giving scientists the most detailed look yet at the universe’s earliest moments.
More Than Just a Cosmic Survey
Beyond its deep-space discoveries, SPHEREx could change the way astronomers view interstellar dust—a crucial but poorly understood component of space.
Keighley Rockcliffe noted that many astronomers see dust as an annoyance, as it blocks views of distant objects. But SPHEREx will prove that interstellar dust holds important secrets:
“SPHEREx will prove that there are interesting things hiding in between our stars that we should care about.”
Understanding the distribution and chemistry of interstellar dust could help refine astronomical models, improving everything from planet formation theories to galaxy evolution studies.
The Next Big Step in Space Exploration
With a budget of $488 million, SPHEREx is not the biggest or most expensive space telescope ever launched, but its unique capabilities make it one of the most promising. While telescopes like James Webb focus on ultra-detailed views of specific objects, SPHEREx will act as a cosmic cartographer, giving scientists a broad but incredibly detailed map of the entire universe.
And because it will scan the sky four times over, SPHEREx may even catch glimpses of previously unseen cosmic phenomena, opening the door to discoveries that scientists haven’t even imagined yet.
As March 4 approaches, the excitement among astronomers is growing—because when SPHEREx finally takes to the skies, the universe might never look the same again.
For more information on NASA’s SPHEREx mission, go to the mission’s website.