Why in news
NASA is preparing to launch the SPHEREx space telescope, aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from California.
SPHEREx stands for Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization, and Ices Explorer.
Mission Goals
SPHEREx will map 450 million galaxies and over 100 million stars in the Milky Way.
It will create a 3D map of the universe in 102 colors.
The mission aims to study the origins of the universe and search for water in the Milky Way, especially on interstellar dust grains.
Cosmic Inflation
SPHEREx will help explore cosmic inflation, the rapid expansion of the universe shortly after the Big Bang.
It will map the distribution of galaxies to better understand the physics behind cosmic inflation.
This data will help answer questions about what happened immediately after the Big Bang, around 13.8 billion years ago.
Scientific Significance
It will look at the space between galaxies, measuring the collective glow of light to better understand the early universe.
Alongside SPHEREx, NASA's PUNCH mission will launch satellites to study the Sun's corona and the solar wind, helping scientists understand the Sun's outer atmosphere.
COMMENTS