NASA Launches SPHEREx and PUNCH Missions to Explore Universe and Sun

On March 11, NASA's SPHEREx and PUNCH missions launched aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. SPHEREx, the Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization and Ices Explorer, will create a 3D map of the entire celestial sky every six months to study the origins of the universe, galaxy history, and the ingredients of life. PUNCH, the Polarimeter to Unify the Corona and Heliosphere mission, comprises four small satellites designed to study how the Sun's outer atmosphere becomes the solar wind. Ground controllers established communication with SPHEREx at 9:31 p.m. PDT, and with all four PUNCH spacecraft after their successful separation. SPHEREx will begin its two-year prime mission after a one-month checkout, while PUNCH enters a 90-day commissioning period. Both missions are designed to operate in a low Earth, Sun-synchronous orbit.