February 2025

NASA, SpaceX Update the Launch of Space Telescope and Sun Missions

Technicians integrate NASA’s four PUNCH (Polarimeter to Unify the Corona and Heliosphere) satellites to the evolved expendable launch vehicle secondary payload adapter array ring inside the Astrotech Space Operations Facility at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California on Friday, Feb. 14, 2025. The PUNCH mission is launching as a rideshare with NASA’s SPHEREx (Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization and Ices Explorer) observatory. Photo credit: USSF 30th Space Wing/Joe Davila

NASA and SpaceX now are targeting no earlier than Sunday, March 2, for the launch of the agency’s SPHEREx and PUNCH missions. The new date will allow additional time for teams to perform rocket processing ahead of liftoff. The launch time is targeted for 10:09 p.m. EST (7:09 p.m. PST) from Space Launch Complex 4 East (SLC-4E) at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.

The SPHEREx mission (Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization and Ices Explorer) will improve our understanding of what happened in the first second after the big bang and search for key ingredients for life in our galaxy. The PUNCH mission (Polarimeter to Unify the Corona and Heliosphere) will observe the Sun’s corona as it transitions into the solar wind.

The prelaunch news briefing now is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. on Saturday, March 1, with coverage streaming live on NASA+. Media may ask questions in person and via phone. Limited auditorium space will be available for in-person participation. For the dial-in number and passcode, media should contact the Kennedy newsroom no later than one hour before the start of the event at ksc-newsroom@mail.nasa.gov.

The SPHEREx and PUNCH live launch broadcast will begin at 9:15 p.m., Sunday, March 2, and stream live NASA+.

Visit the NASA website for more information about SPHEREx and PUNCH.

NASA’s PUNCH Mission Nears Launch

Earth is immersed in material streaming from the Sun. This stream, called the solar wind, is washing over our planet, causing breathtaking auroras, impacting satellites and astronauts in space, and even affecting ground-based infrastructure.

NASA’s PUNCH (Polarimeter to Unify the Corona and Heliosphere) mission will be the first to image the Sun’s corona, or outer atmosphere, and solar wind together to better understand the Sun, solar wind, and Earth as a single connected system.

Launching no earlier than Feb. 28, 2025, aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, PUNCH will provide scientists with new information about how potentially disruptive solar events form and evolve. This could lead to more accurate predictions about the arrival of space weather events at Earth and impact on humanity’s robotic explorers in space.

The PUNCH mission’s four suitcase-sized satellites have overlapping fields of view that combine to cover a larger swath of sky than any previous mission focused on the corona and solar wind. The satellites will spread out in low Earth orbit to construct a global view of the solar corona and its transition to the solar wind. They will also track solar storms like coronal mass ejections. Their Sun-synchronous orbit will enable them to see the Sun 24/7, with their view only occasionally blocked by Earth.

Following a 90-day commission period after launch, PUNCH is scheduled to conduct science for at least two years. The mission is launching as a rideshare with NASA’s next astrophysics observatory, SPHEREx (Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization and Ices Explorer).

The PUNCH mission is led by Southwest Research Institute’s offices in San Antonio, Texas, and Boulder, Colorado. The mission is managed by the Explorers Program Office at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington.

Learn more: https://science.nasa.gov/science-research/heliophysics/nasas-punch-mission-to-revolutionize-view-of-solar-wind/

NASA, SpaceX Move Launch of Space Telescope, Sun Missions

NASA’s SPHEREx (Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization and Ices Explorer), a space telescope, is situated on a work stand ahead of prelaunch operations at the Astrotech Processing Facility at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California on Thursday, Jan. 16, 2025. SPHEREx will enter a polar orbit around Earth and create a 3D map of the entire sky, gathering information about millions of galaxies for scientists to study what happened after the big bang, the history of galaxy evolution, and the origins of water in planetary systems in our galaxy. Photo credit: BAE Systems/Benjamin Fry

NASA and SpaceX now are targeting no earlier than 10:09 p.m. EST (7:09 p.m. PST) on Friday, Feb. 28, for the launch of the agency’s SPHEREx and PUNCH missions. The new date will allow additional time to ensure the vehicle’s readiness ahead of liftoff. SPHEREx and PUNCH will launch on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex 4 East (SLC-4E) at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.

The prelaunch news briefing now will be held at 3:30 p.m. EST Thursday, Feb. 27, with coverage streaming live on NASA+. Media may ask questions in person and via phone. Limited auditorium space will be available for in-person participation. For the dial-in number and passcode, media should contact the Kennedy newsroom no later than one hour before the start of the event at ksc-newsroom@mail.nasa.gov.

The SPHEREx and PUNCH live launch broadcast will begin at 9:15 p.m. EST, Friday, Feb. 28, and stream live on NASA+.

Visit the NASA website for more information about SPHEREx and PUNCH.