SPHEREx’s Concentric Cones – NASA

NASA’s SPHEREx (Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization and Ices Explorer) observatory rests horizontally in this April 2024 image taken at BAE Systems in Boulder, Colorado. This orientation shows the observatory’s three layers of photon shields – the metallic concentric cones.

Over a two-year planned mission, the SPHEREx Observatory will collect data on more than 450 million galaxies along with more than 100 million stars in the Milky Way in order to explore the origins of the universe.

Tune in at 12 p.m. EST Jan. 31, 2025, to hear agency experts preview the mission. SPHEREx is targeted to launch no earlier than Feb. 27, 2025.

Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/BAE Systems