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Paris, 5 February 2021. – The Universe is worth it: The U.S. space agency NASA pays SpaceX nearly $100 million to launch its SPHEREx spectro-photometer mission planned for June 2024.
SPHEREx is a two-year astrophysics mission to survey the sky in the near-infrared light, which, though not visible to the human eye, serves as a powerful tool for answering cosmic questions involving the birth of the universe, and the subsequent development of galaxies, NASA said.
It also will search for water and organic molecules in regions where stars are born from gas and dust, known as stellar nurseries, as well as disks around stars where new planets could be forming. Astronomers will use the mission to gather data on more than 300 million galaxies, as well as more than 100 million stars in our own Milky Way galaxy.
The total cost for NASA – approximately $98.8 million – includes the launch service and other mission related costs, the agency said.
SPHEREx is targeted to launch in June 2024 on a Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex-4E at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.
