SpaceX Launches NASA's SPHEREx and PUNCH Missions in Rideshare Flight, Advancing Cosmic Exploration

SpaceX successfully launched NASA's SPHEREx (Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization and Ices Explorer) observatory and the PUNCH (Polarimeter to UNify the Corona and Heliosphere) mission on a Falcon 9 rocket from California. This marked the first instance of NASA and SpaceX launching two missions simultaneously, a strategy aimed at maximizing launch efficiency and scientific return. SPHEREx, costing $488 million, will embark on a two-year mission to map over 450 million galaxies to provide insights into the universe's rapid expansion. PUNCH will study the sun. The Falcon 9's first stage executed a controlled landing at Vandenberg Space Force Base. SPHEREx will create a three-dimensional map over six months to two years to show more than 450 million galaxies "across cosmic time" in order to provide clues about how the universe expanded so rapidly.