At Vandenberg Space Force Base, preparations are underway for a mission to send a NASA telescope into space.
NASA officials say the two-year-long SPHEREx (Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization and Ices Explorer) mission will include the first large-scale survey of the key ingredients for life in the Milky Way Galaxy as well as a mapping of the entire sky.
"SPHEREx is going to study the sky in a new way, which is to map the entire sky in spectroscopy in the infrared, and this has never been done before," said Jamie Bock, Marvin L. Goldberger Physics Professor at Caltech and Senior Research Scientist at JPL. "Through these maps, we can do some really exciting fundamental science."
The telescope is currently scheduled for launch on Friday, Feb. 28, aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.
Along for the ride will be another NASA mission called PUNCH (Polarimeter to Unify the Corona and Heliosphere), which consists of four small satellites that will observe the Sun and map out the region where the Sun's corona transitions to solar wind.
There are some local events planned ahead of the launch where the public can learn more about these missions.
On Sunday, Feb. 23, Cal Poly will host astronomy presentations and other family-oriented activities focused on the PUNCH mission. The free event will take place from 1-4 p.m. at the university's Advanced Technologies Lab and will include presentations from NASA officials and demonstrations including solar telescope observing. Click here for additional details.
The Lompoc Public Library is holding two pre-launch events that will include presentations by NASA staff and children's activities. The events take place from 5:30-7 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 25 and from 2-4 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 26 in the library's Grossman Gallery.
