Washington, March 9, 2025 – The Europe Today: NASA’s latest space exploration missions, SPHEREx and PUNCH, designed to study the origins of life and the sun’s impact on the solar system, have faced a delay in their scheduled launch. The missions, which were set to lift off aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, have been postponed to allow further rocket checkouts, NASA announced.
The launch, initially planned for February 28, was already delayed due to weather and integration issues as engineers worked on attaching both missions to the rocket. NASA has yet to confirm a new launch date.
Unveiling the Cosmos: SPHEREx Mission
SPHEREx (Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization, and Ices Explorer) aims to map the entire sky in 102 infrared colors, helping scientists understand the evolution of the universe and locate key ingredients for life. The telescope will analyze over 450 million galaxies and more than 100 million stars in the Milky Way, identifying water, carbon dioxide, and other essential compounds within molecular clouds.
Exploring the Sun: PUNCH Mission
PUNCH (Polarimeter to Unify the Corona and Heliosphere) will focus on the sun’s outer atmosphere and solar wind, providing crucial insights into space weather. The mission consists of four small satellites equipped with specialized cameras to study how the sun’s energy influences the solar system.
Both missions promise groundbreaking discoveries, with SPHEREx acting as a partner to the James Webb Space Telescope, while PUNCH will work alongside NASA’s Parker Solar Probe. Scientists anticipate that these missions will significantly enhance our understanding of the universe and the forces shaping it.
