Washington D.C.: NASA is gearing up to launch a groundbreaking infrared space telescope, SPHEREx, on February 27, promising to deliver the most vivid and comprehensive map of the universe ever made. Though compact in size, the telescope will carry out a powerful two-year mission that could reshape our understanding of the cosmos.
SPHEREx — short for Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization, and Ices Explorer — is designed to take spectroscopic images of the sky, splitting light from celestial objects into 96 color bands, a giant leap from the three bands visible to the human eye. This capability will allow scientists to explore the birth of galaxies, the structure of the universe, and even the chemical fingerprints of life-forming molecules within our own Milky Way.
Unlike NASA’s James Webb and Hubble telescopes, which observe small patches of the sky in high resolution, SPHEREx will scan the entire sky repeatedly. In doing so, it will collect data on over 1 billion galaxies, 100 million stars, and 10,000 asteroids, opening new avenues in both cosmology and astrobiology.
One of SPHEREx’s primary goals is to investigate cosmic inflation, the mysterious exponential expansion of the universe moments after the Big Bang. By mapping the 3D positions of galaxies through time, astronomers aim to test leading theories of this poorly understood phenomenon.
Closer to home, SPHEREx will search for icy molecules like water, methanol, and carbon dioxide — considered essential to life — across vast regions of the Milky Way. These so-called biogenic molecules, which exist frozen in interstellar gas clouds, are key to understanding how life begins. The mission will create a complete catalog of these molecules, pinpointing their locations and the conditions needed for their formation.
To date, astronomers have gathered around 200 infrared spectra of such molecules in space, with James Webb expected to increase that to a few thousand. SPHEREx, however, will produce over 8 million spectroscopic measurements — an unprecedented feat expected to revolutionize our understanding of where life might exist beyond Earth.
By combining broad-sky mapping with deep chemical analysis, SPHEREx promises not only to enrich our cosmic knowledge but also to provide valuable leads in the search for extraterrestrial life.
