Nasa's latest space telescope was launched into orbit on Tuesday with the mission to create an unprecedented map of the entire sky, observing hundreds of millions of galaxies and their collective cosmic luminescence since the universe's beginning.
SpaceX conducted the launch of the Spherex observatory from California, setting it on a polar orbital path. Four compact satellites accompanied the mission to study the sun. Spherex separated first from the rocket's upper stage, drifting into space with Earth visible in the background.
The Spherex mission, costing $488 million, seeks to understand galaxy formation and evolution over billions of years, and investigate the rapid expansion of the universe in its earliest moments.
Within our Milky Way galaxy, Spherex will search for water and other life-essential elements in interstellar ice clouds where new solar systems develop.
The cone-shaped Spherex, weighing 1,110 pounds (500 kilograms), equivalent to a grand piano, will spend six months creating a complete sky map using its infrared sensors and broad field of view. The telescope is set to conduct four complete sky surveys over two years from its 400-mile (650 kilometers) polar orbit.
The telescope's infrared detectors will distinguish 102 colours invisible to human eyes, creating the most comprehensive cosmic map ever produced. The telescope features three nested aluminium-honeycomb cones to maintain its infrared detectors at minus 350 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 210 degrees Celsius), creating a 10-foot (3-meter) protective shield.
Unlike Nasa's Hubble and Webb telescopes with their focused views, Spherex will not capture detailed images of individual galaxies. The telescope will observe the cumulative light from all galaxies, including those formed shortly after the Big Bang.
"This cosmological glow captures all light emitted over cosmic history," said Jamie Bock, chief scientist from the California Institute of Technology, explaining this distinctive approach to cosmic observation reveals previously undetected light sources. Scientists aim to identify light from the earliest galaxies by studying this collective illumination, according to Bock. "We won't see the Big Bang. But we'll see the aftermath from it and learn about the beginning of the universe that way," he said.
Meanwhile, Beth Fabinsky of Nasa's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, deputy project manager said, it's like "looking at the universe through a set of rainbow-colored glasses."
Apart from this space telescope, the SpaceX Falcon rocket also launched four Nasa satellites, called Punch, from Vandenberg Space Force Base. These satellites will study the sun's corona and solar wind from their polar orbit. The launch occurred after a two-week delay due to technical issues.