[NASA] NASA to Preview Sky-Mapping Space Telescope Ahead of Launch

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NASA’s SPHEREx space observatory was photographed at BAE Systems in Boulder, Colorado, in November 2024 after completing environmental testing. The spacecraft’s three concentric cones help direct heat and light away from the telescope and other components, keeping them cool.

Credit: BAE Systems

NASA will host a news conference at 12 p.m. EST Friday, Jan. 31, to discuss a new telescope that will improve our understanding of how the universe evolved and search for key ingredients for life in our galaxy.

Agency experts will preview NASA’s SPHEREx (Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization and Ices Explorer) mission, which will help scientists better understand the structure of the universe, how galaxies form and evolve, and the origins and abundance of water. Launch is targeted for no earlier than Thursday, Feb. 27.

The news conference will be hosted at the agency’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. Watch live

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, as well as JPL’s

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channels. Learn how to

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through a variety of platforms, including social media.

Laurie Leshin, director, NASA JPL, will provide opening remarks. Additional briefing participants include:

• Shawn Domagal-Goldman, acting director, Astrophysics Division, NASA Headquarters
• James Fanson, project manager, SPHEREx, NASA JPL
• Beth Fabinsky, deputy project manager, SPHEREx, NASA JPL  
• Jamie Bock, principal investigator, SPHEREx, Caltech
• Cesar Marin, SPHEREx integration engineer, Launch Services Program, NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida

To ask questions by phone, members of the media must RSVP no later than two hours before the start of the event to: rexana.v*****@*****.tld. NASA’s media accreditation

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is available online. Questions also can be asked on social media during the briefing using #AskNASA.

The SPHEREx observatory will survey the entire celestial sky in near-infrared light to help answer cosmic questions involving the birth of the universe, and the subsequent development of galaxies. It also will search for ices of water and organic molecules — essentials for life as we know it — in regions where stars are born from gas and dust, as well as disks around stars where new planets could be forming. Astronomers will use the mission to gather data on more than 450 million galaxies, as well as more than 100 million stars in our own Milky Way galaxy.

The space observatory will share its ride on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket with NASA’s PUNCH (Polarimeter to Unify the Corona and Heliosphere) mission, which will lift off from Launch Complex 4E at Vandenberg Space Force Base in Central California. 

The SPHEREx mission is managed by NASA JPL for the agency’s Astrophysics Division within the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington. The principal investigator is based at Caltech in Pasadena, California, which manages NASA JPL for the agency. 

The spacecraft is supplied by BAE Systems. The Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute contributed the non-flight cryogenic test chamber. Mission data will be publicly available through IPAC at Caltech.

For more information about the mission, visit:

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-end-

Alise Fisher
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-2546
*****@*****.tld

Val Gratias / Calla Cofield
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
818-393-6215 / 626-808-2469
*****@*****.tld / calla.e*****@*****.tld

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Last Updated

Jan 27, 2025

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Jessica Taveau

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