Page 25 - EngineerIt January 2021

SPACE TECHNOLOGY

A new NASA space telescope

to probe the universe

ASA's upcoming space telescope, the spectro-photometer for the wave lengths, or colours, just like a prism breaks
History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionisation and Ices Explorer, or sunlight into its component colours. Spectroscopy
NSPHEREx, is one step closer to launch. The mission has officially data can reveal what an object is made of, because
entered Phase C, in NASA lingo. That means the agency has approved individual chemical elements absorb and radiate
preliminary design plans for the observatory, and work can begin on creating specific wave lengths of light. It can also be used to
a final, detailed design, as well as on building the hardware and software. estimate an object's distance from Earth, which
Managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in southern means the SPHEREx map will be three-dimensional.
California, SPHEREx is scheduled to launch no earlier than June 2024 and SPHEREx will be the first NASA mission to build a
no later than April 2025. Its instruments will detect near-infrared light, or full-sky spectroscopy map in near-infrared, and it will
wave lengths several times longer than the light visible to the human eye. observe a total of 102 near-infrared colours.
During its two year mission, it will map the entire sky four times, creating a Before entering Phase C, the SPHEREx team
massive data base of stars, galaxies, nebulae (clouds of gas and dust in successfully completed a preliminary design review in
space) and many other celestial objects. October 2020. During this multiday process, the team
About the size of a sub-compact car, the space telescope will use a had to demonstrate to NASA leadership that they can
technique called spectroscopy to break near-infrared light into its individual make their complex, cutting-edge mission design a

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