NASA Set To Launch SPHEREx Space Telescope To Unlock Secrets Of The Big Bang And Cosmic Water Reservoirs—All About It

NASA is set to launch a groundbreaking space observatory designed to explore the origins of the universe and map the distribution of galaxies across the cosmos, reported The Hindu.

The SPHEREx space telescope, short for Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization and Ices Explorer, is scheduled for launch aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Space Force Base, California, on Friday.

The mission, spanning two years, aims to collect data on over 450 million galaxies and 100 million stars within the Milky Way.

SPHEREx will create a three-dimensional cosmic map using 102 wavelengths of light, offering an unprecedented look at the vast structures of the universe.

A key objective of SPHEREx is to investigate cosmic inflation, the rapid expansion that occurred in a fraction of a second after the Big Bang, 13.8 billion years ago.

This phenomenon shaped the large-scale structure of the universe. By mapping galaxies across the entire sky, researchers hope to uncover fundamental insights into this early cosmic event.

"By mapping the distribution of galaxies over the whole sky, we can directly constrain unique properties of inflation," said cosmologist Olivier Doré of Caltech and NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, quoted as saying by The Hindu.

He emphasised that spectroscopy—studying objects based on their colors—will enable SPHEREx to connect large-scale cosmic structures to the physics of the universe’s birth.

Beyond its cosmological goals, SPHEREx will also search for water and molecular compounds like carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide in interstellar molecular clouds. 

These dense regions of gas and dust are believed to host frozen reservoirs of water, providing crucial insights into the origins of life-supporting elements in the universe.

By capturing light from billions of cosmic sources, SPHEREx will deliver a more detailed understanding of how galaxies formed and evolved while also shedding light on the essential building blocks of life within our galaxy.