Tag: Polarimeter to Unify the Corona and Heliosphere

A team of launch managers for NASA’s SPHEREx (Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization and Ices Explorer) and PUNCH (Polarimeter to Unify the Corona and Heliosphere) missions authorized approval to proceed to launch countdown at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California ahead of a scheduled launch on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket on Saturday, March 8 at 10:09 p.m. EST (7:09 p.m. PST) from Space Launch Complex 4 East. 

During the Launch Readiness Review on March 7, launch managers from NASA’s Launch Services Program, SpaceX, and the SPHEREx and PUNCH mission teams received an update on the missions’ status and any close-out actions from the previously held Flight Readiness Review. 

NASA will host a prelaunch news conference today at 3:30 p.m. EST (12:30 p.m. PST) to discuss the agency’s SPHEREx and PUNCH missions. Coverage of the prelaunch news conference will stream live on NASA+. Learn how to watch NASA content through a variety of platforms, including social media. 

Participants include: 

• Dr. Mark Clampin, acting deputy associate administrator, Science Mission Directorate, NASA Headquarters
• James Fanson, SPHEREx project manager, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory  
• David Cheney, PUNCH program executive, NASA 
• Dr. Denton Gibson, launch director, NASA’s Launch Services Program 
• Julianna Scheiman, director, NASA Science Missions, SpaceX 
• 1st Lt. Ina Park, launch weather officer, 30th Operations Support Squadron, U.S. Air Force 

Launch day will kick off March 8, with the NASA Launch Preview Show at 12 p.m. EST (9 a.m. PST), streaming on NASA+. NASA’s launch broadcast is set to begin at 9:15 p.m. EST (6:15 p.m. PST) on NASA+, YouTube, the NASA app, and other digital channels. 

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

Technicians and engineers completed encapsulation of NASA’s SPHEREx (Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization and Ices Explorer) observatory and PUNCH (Polarimeter to Unify the Corona and Heliosphere) satellites within a protective payload fairing inside the Astrotech Space Operations facility at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, on Sunday, March 2. 

The payload fairing serves as a barrier to the harsh environment of the atmosphere during launch and ascent. Liftoff of SPHEREx and PUNCH on the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket is targeted for no earlier than 7:09 p.m. PST (10:09 p.m. EST) on Thursday, March 6. 

The SPHEREx observatory is 8.5 feet tall, 10.5 feet wide and deep, with a solar panel that produces around 750 watts of power. The PUNCH mission features four 140-pound small satellites, each about 1-by-2-by-3 feet in size. At launch, the integrated SPHEREx and PUNCH stack will weigh around 1,667 pounds.  

The SPHEREx mission will view the sky in infrared light, a range of wavelengths not visible to the human eye, collecting data on more than 450 million galaxies along with more than 100 million stars in the Milky Way over a two-year planned mission. PUNCH will study origins of the Sun’s outflow of material, or the solar wind, capturing continuous 3D images of the Sun’s corona and the solar wind’s journey into the solar system.  

Stay connected to NASA’s SPHEREx and PUNCH missions by following and tagging these accounts:  

X: @NASA, @NASAJPL, @NASAUniverse, @NASASun, @NASAKennedy, @NASA_LSP 
Facebook: NASA, NASA’s JPL, NASA Universe, NASASunScience, NASA’s Launch Services Program
Instagram: @NASA, @NASAKennedy, @NASAJPL, @NASAUniverse 

For more information about these missions, visit: 

https://science.nasa.gov/mission/spherex/ 

https://science.nasa.gov/mission/punch/  

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.