On Tuesday, NASA successfully launched a telescope worth ₹4,255 crore from California into orbit, starting a mission to discover hidden water reserves in the Milky Way galaxy and investigate the universe’s beginnings. The megaphone-shaped observatory, known as SPHEREx (Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization, and Ices Explorer), was launched into orbit by a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Space Force Base.
SPHERE is a two-year mission that will examine over 450 million galaxies and more than 100 million stars in the Milky Way. It will create a detailed three-dimensional map of the universe by combining 102 different light wavelengths. The initiative attempts to advance scientific understanding of cosmic inflation, which depicts the universe’s fast expansion in the first fraction of a second after the Big Bang.
SPHERE will also look for frozen water and chemicals such as carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide in interstellar dust clouds, which are necessary for the birth of stars and planets.
NASA also launched four satellites for its PUNCH mission, which aims to study the sun’s atmosphere and solar wind. These phenomena influence space weather, which can affect satellites and electricity infrastructures on Earth. SPHEREx and PUNCH represent significant advances in astrophysics and space exploration.
