NASA’s SPHEREx (Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization and Ices Explorer) observatory has separated from the Falcon 9 rocket’s second stage, on its way to begin its science mission from a sun-synchronous orbit about 404 miles (650 kilometers) above the Earth’s surface.
In about 10 minutes, deployment of the PUNCH (Polarimeter to Unify the Corona and Heliosphere) mission’s four satellites will begin.