The American space agency (NASA) will launch two missions simultaneously, Spherex and Punch, with the aim of seeing the “colors” universe and studying more in detail the Sun.
His takeoff is scheduled “As of March 2” from Vandenberg, California, although the specific date has not yet closed.
The Spherex space telescope will map the universe as it had not been done so far, the sky will probe in optical light and in the nearby infrared light that, although it is not visible to the human eye, will help answer cosmic questions such as the way in which galaxies are formed.
“Spherex is going to make a cartography of the universe. It has 102 colors in wavelength, which will allow us to measure the distance of these objects and composition. We try to better understand the Big Bang and the explosion that there was “explains to Efe Sandra Cauffman, deputy director of the NASA Astrophysics Division.
In addition to the light map, the telescope is also designed to find interstellar clouds of gas and dust where stars and planets are formed.
They expect, as he said, that this project maps in a general way 450 million galaxies: “He won’t look for life. What will imply is why the universe looks as seen, how galaxies and the abundance of ice and water are formed and evolved, the ingredients that give life. ”
Cauffman worked near this innovative mission that seeks to approach the origins: “We want to better understand the cosmic event we call Big Bang.”
Although they have different studies, both missions will be launched at the same time because they “combined very well” in their development and the launch trajectory, but each one will be separated and focused on their work.
Punch, meanwhile, will focus on studying the sun in great detail: “It will capture real -time images of the Crown of the Sun and reveal how the solar wind is formed and influences the space climate of the entire solar system,” The attached director progresses.
From 2023 and until 2026, the Sun is in the high activity period of its cycle, so the mission was designed to “make the most” this moment.
There are other missions, such as Solar Park and Flow, which is the one that “touched the sun,” Cauffman recalled, which are already giving details that we did not know before, but this mission will do it differently.
“Punch also carries a coronograph, which is an instrument that blocks sunlight and will allow to observe the crown of the sun with much more detail,” he says.
The two missions have a scheduled duration, but Cauffman points out that in the event that they continue to work properly “They will move on” with both.
On the other hand, the attached director advances that they already work in the technology of a mission called the Habitable World Observatory, whose launch is planned for 2040 and that it will investigate the exoplanets that are on the Milky Way to see if “they are habitable”.