A Look Back At Tuesday’s Successful SPHEREx-PUNCH Launch

In a joint mission by SpaceX and NASA, a SpaceX rocket launched at exactly 11:11 pm EST on Tuesday night, March 11, to send both SPHEREx and PUNCH into orbit. Not out of the ordinary, the two passenger instruments have been delayed numerous times since their original launch date in late February.

SPHEREx is a telescope, similar to the James Webb, set out to create colorful maps of 450 million galaxies. The images are supposed to be a wide collection, unique to James Webb’s ability to pinpoint specific objects like galaxies and exoplanets. SPHEREx is short for Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization and Ices Explorer. SPHEREx has been the main focus of this mission, but not to take a backseat to it is PUNCH. 

The PUNCH mission (Polarimeter to UNify the Corona and Heliosphere) studies how the Sun’s outer atmosphere (corona) turns into solar wind, the stream of charged particles flowing through space. Using four small satellites, PUNCH helps scientists understand space weather, which can impact Earth’s satellites, power grids, and communications.

Stages of the Launch