NASA’s Newest Space Telescope is Launched to Find the Essential Components of Life
NASA has successfully launched two historic missions from California following a string of delays. that might enable researchers to piece together what transpired in the initial seconds following the Big Bang.
Over the course of its two-year mission, the $488 million SPHEREx observatory will conduct four surveys of the whole sky. Its equipment will use 102 different colors, or wavelengths, to observe the universe.
PUNCH is a group of four satellites that will accompany this mission to investigate the solar wind and outer atmosphere of the Sun.
PUNCH and SPHEREX Enter into Sun-synchronous Orbit
SPHEREx (Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization and Ices Explorer) separated from the rocket’s upper stage around forty-two minutes after launch.
After about 10 minutes, the four PUNCH satellites were launched in pairs. At this point, both missions are awaiting signals from their respective spacecraft, which are presently orbiting about 644 kilometers above Earth’s terminator line, which is the dynamic border between day and night.
Since its orbit maintains a fixed location with regard to Sun, it is known as sun-synchronous.
102 Infrared Colors will be Used by SPHEREx to Map the Universe
For the first time in human history, SPHEREx will map the entire sky in 102 infrared colors.
Because infrared light has longer wavelengths than what the human eye can detect, colors in this spectrum are practically invisible to humans. However, infrared light from stars, galaxies, and other astronomical objects in space contains important information about their chemical makeup, temperature, density, and composition.
In the same way that a prism separates sunlight into a rainbow of hues, spectroscopy is a technique that scientists use to analyze infrared radiation. Researchers will be able to learn more about the chemistry and other features of hundreds of millions of galaxies in the universe thanks to data collected by the SPHEREx observatory.
SPHEREx will also look for hidden supplies of carbon dioxide, water, and other elements necessary for life in the Milky Way galaxy.
PUNCH Mission: Solving Solar Mysteries
In contrast, the $165 million PUNCH mission was built with the intention of physically focusing on the sun. More precisely, it is designed to decipher how the sun’s outer atmosphere, or corona, transforms into the solar wind. It stands for Polarimeter to Unify the Corona and Heliosphere.
Four small, 140-pound (63.5-kg) satellites—three wide-field imagers and one narrow-field imager—are part of the PUNCH mission. In essence, the narrow-field imager will be able to replicate a total solar eclipse for itself, albeit on a higher level.
In contrast, the wide-field imagers are designed to use a concept known as polarimetry to produce a 3D map of features visible across the inner solar system including the sun’s corona. Of course, CMEs are included in it.
