Space travel Nasa telescope "SphereX" to explore the origins of the universe
The new Nasa space telescope "SphereX" has been launched from a spaceport in the US state of California with the help of a "Falcon 9" rocket from the private space company SpaceX. Its purpose is to scan the sky in the near infrared range.
12.03.2025, 04:45
SDA
The name of the telescope "SphereX" stands for "Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization and Ices Explorer". As live images from the US space agency NASA showed, the launch went ahead.
The launch had previously been postponed several times. "SphereX" has the shape of a megaphone and is roughly the size of a garden shed. The infrared telescope is to scan the sky for two years.
Hope for new discoveries
"We are the first mission to look at the whole sky in so many colors," said Nasa scientist Jamie Bock. "Whenever astronomers look at the sky in a new way, we can expect to make discoveries." Researchers hope that "SphereX" will provide new insights into the formation of the universe and help in the search for ice and organic molecules.
The "Punch" mission (Polarimeter to Unify the Corona and Heliosphere) was also launched together with "SphereX" - four small satellites designed to study the solar wind.
