SPHEREx

Short for Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization and Ices Explorer.

About the size of a subcompact car, SPHEREx will enter a polar orbit around Earth and create a map of the entire sky in 3D, taking images in every direction, like scanning the inside of a globe. The map will contain hundreds of millions of stars and galaxies, showing them in 102 colors (each a different wavelength of light).

Scientists will use SPHEREx’s all-sky map to achieve the mission’s three key science goals. The first is to shed light on a cosmic phenomenon called inflation, a brief but powerful cosmic event when space itself increased in size by a trillion-trillionfold less than a second after the big bang. The observatory will measure the distribution of hundreds of millions of galaxies to improve understanding of what drove inflation and of the physics behind this event.

The SPHEREx mission will also measure the collective glow from galaxies near and far, including light from hidden galaxies that haven’t been individually observed. This data will provide a more complete picture of all the objects and sources radiating in the universe.

Its third key science goal is to search the Milky Way galaxy for icy granules of water, carbon dioxide, and other essential building blocks of life. The mission will help scientists discover the location and abundance of these icy compounds in our galaxy, giving them a better sense of how likely they are to be incorporated into newly forming planets.

Courtesy of NASA.

NASA's PUNCH mission (Polarimeter to Unify the Corona and Heliosphere). Led by Southwest Research Institute’s office in Boulder, Colorado, and managed by NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, PUNCH is a constellation of four small satellites heading to low Earth orbit that will make global, 3D observations of the Sun’s corona to learn how the mass and energy there become solar wind.

Courtesy of NASA

The PUNCH mission will use four suitcase-sized satellites to observe the Sun and its environment. Working together, the four PUNCH satellites will create a combined field of view and map the region where the Sun’s corona (or outer atmosphere) transitions to the solar wind (the constant outflow of material from the Sun).

The PUNCH mission will answer questions about:
How the Sun’s atmosphere transitions to the solar wind.
How structures in the solar wind are created.
How these processes affect the solar system.

Space Weather Impacts
The solar wind and energetic solar events like flares and coronal mass ejections can create space weather effects throughout the solar system. These phenomena can have a significant impact on human society and technology, from sparking and intensifying auroras to interfering with satellites or triggering power outages.
The measurements from PUNCH will provide scientists with new information about how these potentially disruptive 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.

A New View
The PUNCH mission will view the entire inner solar system continuously, with one camera on each of the four satellites, all acting together as a single “virtual instrument” with a 90° field of view centered on the Sun.
The four PUNCH spacecraft will be in a polar, low Earth orbit and spread out near Earth’s day-night line. This means the satellites will be near the terminator line, which is the area that separates day from night on Earth. This enables each spacecraft to nearly always be in sunlight and to give the spacecraft constellation a clear view in all directions around the Sun.
The PUNCH mission is the first mission specifically designed to make use of the polarization of light to measure the corona and solar wind in 3D.
When particles, such as electrons, scatter sunlight, the waves of light become aligned in a particular way — this is polarized light. PUNCH will measure the light using polarizing filters similar to polarizing sunglasses, allowing scientists to make a 3D map of features PUNCH sees throughout the corona and inner solar system. Because PUNCH has more sensitive cameras and a wider field of view than previous pathfinder instruments, it will provide greater detail and a deeper understanding of the solar wind than ever before.

Falcon 9 is a reusable, two-stage rocket designed and manufactured by SpaceX for the reliable and safe transport of people and payloads into Earth orbit and beyond.

Falcon 9 is the world’s first orbital-class reusable rocket.

Stats

Total launches: 437

Total landings: 392

Total reflights: 366

The Falcon 9 has launched 54 humans into orbit since May 2020

Specs

Height: 70 m / 229.6 ft

Diameter: 3.7 m / 12 ft

Mass: 549,054 kg / 1,207,920 lb

Payload to Low Earth Orbit (LEO): 22,800 kg / 50,265 lb

Payload to Geostationary Transfer Orbit (GTO): 8,300 kg / 18,300 lb

Payload to Mars: 4,020 kg / 8,860 lb

On January 24, 2021, Falcon 9 launched the first ride-share mission to Sun Synchronous Orbit. It was delivering a record-setting 143 satellites to space. And while this was an important mission for SpaceX in itself, it was also the moment Falcon 9 overtook United Launch Alliance’s Atlas V for the total number of consecutive successful launches.

SpaceX’s Falcon 9 had become America’s workhorse rocket, launching 31 times in 2021. It has already beaten that record this year, launching almost an average of once a week. While most of the launches deliver Starlink satellites to orbit, the company is still launching the most commercial payloads to orbit, too.

Falcon 9 is a medium-lift launch vehicle, with the capability to launch over 22.8 metric tonnes to low earth orbit. Unlike any other rocket, its first stage lands back on Earth after separating from its second stage. In part, this allows SpaceX to offer the cheapest option for most customers with payloads that need to reach orbit.

Under its ride-share program, a kilogram can be placed in a sun-synchronous orbit for a mere 1.1 million dollars, far cheaper than all other currently operating small satellite launch vehicles.

The reusability and fast booster turnaround times have made Falcon 9 the preferred choice for private companies and government agencies. This has allowed SpaceX to capture a huge portion of the launch market.

Photo courtesy of Jenny Hautmann for Supercluster.

Space Launch Complex 4 (SLC-4) at Vandenberg Space Force Base is SpaceX’s west coast launch and landing facility, with its launch pad designated SLC-4E (the eastern-most of the two areas). Originally built in the early 1960s for Atlas-Agena rockets, the pad served that rocket line until 1967, when it was taken offline and rebuilt for Titan IIID rockets. From 1971 to 1988, SLC-4E launched Titan IIID rockets, after which it was reconfigured for Titan IV missions, which continued between 1991 and 2005.

In 2011, SpaceX leased SLC-4E and spent two years rebuilding the pad for its Falcon 9 rocket. From 2013 to 2019, the pad exclusively supported Falcon 9 polar missions. However, in 2020, SpaceX began splitting polar launches between Vandenberg and Cape Canaveral, after the Air Force lifted a 51-year ban on Florida-based polar launches, previously imposed due to the risk of overflying Cuba during launch. Despite these new opportunities from Florida, SpaceX plans to continue utilizing Vandenberg, with many more launches scheduled from this location.

Photo by Supercluster

Landing Zone 4 (LZ-4) is SpaceX’s only West Coast landing pad for the Falcon 9 first stage. Activated in 2018, the pad was constructed on the site of the former SLC-4W launch pad at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.

SLC-4W was originally developed between 1963 and 1965 to support Atlas-Agena rocket launches and was located just 427 meters (1,400 feet) from SLC-4E. After the Atlas-Agena program ended, the pad was rebuilt for the Titan IIIB rocket program, which operated from 1966 to 1987. Following the retirement of the Titan IIIB, SLC-4W was reconfigured for Titan 23G rocket launches from 1988 to 2003.

In 2015, SpaceX leased SLC-4W, renaming it Landing Zone 4 and converting it into a dedicated landing site for Falcon 9 first stages. The first Return-To-Launch-Site landing of a Falcon 9 at Landing Zone 4 occurred on October 7, 2018, after the successful launch of the SAOCOM 1A satellite.

Photo courtesy of Pauline Acalin for Supercluster