Vandenberg is launching SpaceX rocket — with a satellite that will study 300 million galaxies
.jpg "NASA’s SPHEREx mission is intended to help astronomers understand both how the universe evolved and how common are the ingredients for life in the galaxy’s planetary systems. The spacecraft is expected to launch from Vandenberg Air Force Base near Lompoc in 2024.")
NASA has chosen a SpaceX rocket to launch a satellite to survey the sky.
The space agency will use a Falcon 9 rocket to carry its spacecraft into orbit as early as June 2024 from Space Launch Complex-4E at Vandenberg Air Force Base near Lompoc.
In addition to bringing more activity to Vandenberg, launches help fill local hotels and restaurants with crew members who work on rocket and satellite programs in the weeks before blastoff and with visitors closer to liftoff.
The craft, dubbed Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization and Ices Explorer, or SPHEREx, is planned as a two-year astrophysics mission to survey the sky in the near-infrared light.
Near-infrared light, although not visible to the human eye, can be a powerful tool for answering cosmic questions involving the birth of the universe, and the subsequent development of galaxies, NASA officials said.
“It also will search for water and organic molecules — essentials for life as we know it — in regions where stars are born from gas and dust, known as stellar nurseries, as well as disks around stars where new planets could be forming,” NASA said in a statement.
“Astronomers will use the mission to gather data on more than 300 million galaxies, as well as more than 100 million stars in our own Milky Way Galaxy.”
The total cost for NASA to launch SPHEREx is approximately $98.8 million, which includes the launch service and other mission-related costs, according to the space agency.
In addition to other roles for NASA centers in Florida, Maryland and Washington, D.C., NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena is responsible for the mission’s overall project management, systems engineering, integration, and testing and mission operations.