NASA launched new missions into space to study the Sun and the origin of the Universe
Kyiv • UNN
NASA sent the SPHEREx telescope into space to study the origin of the Universe and the PUNCH mission to study the solar atmosphere. Both missions launched on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.
NASA has launched the SPHEREx infrared space telescope into space to study the origin of the Universe and four small satellites that are part of the PUNCH mission to study the outer atmosphere of the Sun. This was reported by the NASA press service, writes UNN.
Details
It is noted that the SPHEREx infrared space telescope and four small satellites that are part of the PUNCH mission were sent into space aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Launch Complex 4 East at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.
At NASA, everything is interconnected, and sending SPHEREx and PUNCH on the same rocket doubles the opportunities for incredible scientific research in space. I congratulate both mission teams on exploring space from distant galaxies to our neighboring star. I look forward to the return of data in the coming years
Ground controllers have already managed to establish communication with SPHEREx. The telescope will begin its two-year primary mission after an approximately one-month checkout period, during which engineers and scientists will ensure that the spacecraft is functioning properly.
Now we look forward to the scientific discoveries resulting from SPHEREx's exploration of the universe, including understanding how the universe began and where the basic building blocks of life were located
The mission will use spectroscopy to measure the distance to 450 million galaxies in the nearby Universe. Their large-scale distribution was influenced by an event that occurred nearly 14 billion years ago and caused the Universe to expand a trillion trillion times in a fraction of a second after the Big Bang. The mission will also measure the total collective glow of all galaxies in the Universe, providing new insights into how galaxies formed and evolved over cosmic time.
Spectroscopy can also reveal the composition of cosmic objects, and SPHEREx will explore our home galaxy for hidden reservoirs of frozen water ice and other molecules, such as carbon dioxide, that are essential for life as we know it
The PUNCH satellites successfully separated approximately 53 minutes after launch and were also contacted. The mission begins a 90-day commissioning period during which the four satellites will reach the correct orbit and the instruments will be calibrated before scientists begin analyzing images of the solar wind.
During their operation, they will conduct 3D observations of the outer atmosphere of the Sun and its corona to learn how its mass and energy are converted into solar wind - a stream of charged particles that flies out of the Sun in all directions. The mission will study the formation and evolution of space weather phenomena such as coronal mass ejections, which can create storms of energetic particle radiation that can pose a hazard to spacecraft and astronauts.
The space between the planets is not empty. It is full of turbulent solar wind that washes over the Earth. The PUNCH mission is designed to answer fundamental questions about how stars like our Sun create stellar wind and how it leads to dangerous space weather events right here on Earth