How NASA’s SPHEREx Mission Will Map the Cosmos
NASA’s upcoming SPHEREx space telescope mission will map the entire sky like no spacecraft before it. To do that, SPHEREx needs specialized hardware. Three concentric cones called photon shields surround the telescope and block light and heat from the Sun and Earth. Without those shields, the telescope’s detectors would be blinded.
SPHEREx also needs to be cold because it detects infrared light. Invisible to human eyes, infrared is emitted by warm objects on Earth and out in the universe. It’s also emitted by the telescope. Keeping it cold reduces the infrared glow, which lets SPHEREx see faint objects that are really far away.
SPHEREx stands for the Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization and Ices Explorer. Managed by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of Caltech in Pasadena, California, SPHEREx is set to launch no later than April 2025.
For more information about the SPHEREx mission, visit: https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/spherex
Transcript
This is SPHEREx, NASA's Cosmic Mapmaker.
It will scan the entire sky, charting the positions of hundreds of millions of galaxies.
Uh, but why does it look like my dog after his last visit to the vet?
These concentric cones help keep SPHEREx cool and shielded from nearby bright objects.
Anyway, continue.
Ah, of course, SPHEREx has three cones, which are called photon shields.
They block light and heat from the sun and the earth.
That's a big deal, because without those shields, the telescope's detectors would be blinded.
But SPHEREx also needs to be cold because it detects infrared light--or wavelengths--slightly longer than what the human eye can see.
Infrared is emitted by warm objects on earth and out in the universe.
It's also emitted by the telescope.
Keeping it cold reduces the infrared glow, which lets SPHEREx see faint objects that are really, really far away.
That's right. These aren't cones of shame, they're SPHEREx’s cones of fame.
Here you can see one of the SPHEREx three cones being assembled.
They sit atop this shiny jewel of a structure called a V Groove radiator.
The mirrored surface directs heat out into space, cooling the telescope and the infrared detectors.
Cooling them to -350 degrees Fahrenheit. That is cold.
SPHEREx can help us study everything from what happened a few seconds after the big bang to where water comes from in planetary systems.
That's why it's full name is Spectro-Photometer for History of the Universe Epoch of Reionization and Ices Explorer.
I'm sorry, could you say that one more time?
You can just keep calling it SPHEREx.
And so I will.
The V Groove Radiator and the photon shields surround the heart of SPHEREx, the telescope.
It's a feat of modern engineering designed with incredible precision.
And... it looks tilted?
That's not a mistake. That tilt helps it see the entire sky, well, under the protection of the photon shield. Do you mind if I get back to work?
Sure, let's wrap this up.
The cone of fame.
The gorgeous jewel.
The tilted telescope.
These are all part of NASA's next cosmic mapmaker, SPHEREx.