SPHEREx Spacecraft on Work Stand in Astrotech

NASA’s SPHEREx (Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization and Ices Explorer), a space telescope, is situated on a work stand ahead of prelaunch operations at the Astrotech Processing Facility at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California on Friday, Jan. 17, 2025. SPHEREx will enter a polar orbit around Earth and create a 3D map of the entire sky, gathering information about millions of galaxies for scientists to study what happened after the big bang, the history of galaxy evolution, and the origins of water in planetary systems in our galaxy. SPHEREx will launch aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket in late February 2025.

NASA’s SPHEREx (Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization and Ices Explorer), a space telescope, is situated on a work stand ahead of prelaunch operations at the Astrotech Processing Facility at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California on Friday, Jan. 17, 2025. SPHEREx will enter a polar orbit around Earth and create a 3D map of the entire sky, gathering information about millions of galaxies for scientists to study what happened after the big bang, the history of galaxy evolution, and the origins of water in planetary systems in our galaxy. SPHEREx will launch aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket in late February 2025.

Album Spacex_SPHEREx_PUNCH
Astrotech Space OperationsEpoch of Reionization and Ices ExplorerKSCKennedy Space CenterLSPLaunch Services ProgramNASANational Aeronautical and Space AdministrationPUNCHPolarimeter to Unify the Corona and HeliosphereSPHERExSpaceX Falcon 9Spectro-Photometer for the History of the UniverseVandenberg Space Force Base