SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket was chosen by NASA as the launcher for the hundreds of millions of dollars for the SPHEREx space mission.
SPHEREx is an advanced near infrared space observatory developed by NASA. The project, with an estimated total cost of $ 395 million to $ 427 million, is expected to launch in June 2024 as part of a mission that will last at least two years.
In a Feb.4 statement, the U.S. Aerospace Agency said it had chosen SpaceX’s Falcon 9 reusable rockets to deploy SPHEREx. The duo will take off from the 4E complex at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California with a launch cost of around $ 98.8 million.
Falcon 9 has proven to be stable in helping SpaceX successfully perform a series of launches over the years, including impressive records such as rockets carrying the most satellites in a single flight or rockets having the speed of reuse. the fastest and the most recalls.
The main task of SPHEREx is to study the entire sky to measure the near infrared spectra of around 450 million galaxies, enabling astronomers to answer questions about the birth and evolution of the universe.
The telescope will also search for water and organic molecules in clouds and gas and dust disks, where stars and planets can form. The data collected by SPHEREx will complement other spectral surveys by the Euclid Space Telescope and Nancy Grace Roman, which are expected to launch in 2022 and 2025.
