A white satellite with a large dish antenna is floating in a dark, starry background. The Earth is visible below, with a blue and white surface.

Quick Facts

Mission

Name

Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization, and Ices Explorer (SPHEREx)

Duration

Prime mission of 27 months (including one month each for commissioning and decommissioning)

Orbit

Polar orbit around Earth at the day-night (terminator) line

Spacecraft

Dimensions

Overall dimensions: 8.5 feet (2.6 meters) tall, 10.5 feet (3.2 meters) wide and deep
Solar panel: 8.75 feet by 3.4 feet (2.67 meters by 1.02 meters); produces around 750 watts of power
Total weight/mass: 1,107 pounds (502 kilograms)

A large satellite with a large, reflective dish is being worked on in a clean room. A technician in a white suit is visible.

A technician inspects the SPHEREx observatory during spacecraft testing at BAE Systems in Boulder, Colorado. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/BAE Systems | Full Image

Telescope

The SPHEREx telescope has three mirrors, with an effective diameter of 7.9 inches (20 centimeters) and an 11-degree-by-3.5-degree field of view. It will take about 600 exposures of the sky each day and survey the entire sky about once every six months, completing four all-sky maps in its 27-month primary mission. The maps will be combined to increase resolution. The telescope relies on six linear variable filters to image each section of the sky in 102 wavelengths of near-infrared light.

Launch

Targeted Launch Date

No earlier than Feb. 27, 2025 (PST). See the mission blog for updates.

Targeted Launch Time

7:10 p.m. PST (10:10 p.m. EST), regardless of launch day

Launch Site

Space Launch Complex 4E, Vandenberg Space Force Base, California

Launch Vehicle

SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket

Launch Rideshare Partner

Launching as a secondary payload on the same Falcon 9 rocket will be NASA’s PUNCH mission (Polarimeter to Unify the Corona and Heliosphere). Led by Southwest Research Institute’s office in Boulder, Colorado, and managed by NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, PUNCH is a constellation of four small satellites heading to low Earth orbit that will make global, 3D observations of the Sun’s corona to learn how the mass and energy there become solar wind. For more information on PUNCH, visit science.nasa.gov/mission/punch.

Program

The total lifecycle cost to develop, launch, and operate SPHEREx under NASA’s current budget planning is approximately $488 million.

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