NASA’s SPHEREx Prelaunch Media Reel

Animations and b-roll for media and public use. NASA’s SPHEREx (Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization and Ices Explorer) space telescope will improve our understanding of how the universe evolved and search for key ingredients for life in our galaxy. SPHEREx will deliver the most colorful cosmic map ever, helping answer major questions about the structure of the universe, how galaxies form and change over time, and the origins and abundance of chemical compounds like water ice in the Milky Way. This reel includes mission animations and clips of assembly, integration, and testing of the spacecraft at Caltech and NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, as well as BAE Systems in Colorado. The first animation illustrates the SPHEREx spacecraft in orbit, with two rotations around the observatory. Two additional animations show how SPHEREx will survey the entire sky. The reel also covers preparations at Vandenberg Space Force Base (VSFB) in California ahead of launch, which is scheduled for no earlier than Feb. 27, 2025. Interview clips from mission team members are included as well. For more information on the SPHEREx mission, go to: nasa.gov/spherex. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/KSC/BAE Systems/AACS

What is said in the film

SPHEREx is NASA's latest explorer mission in astrophysics, and I'm very excited about it. It's works is going to answer some fundamental questions. SPHEREx going to tell us about the origin of the universe, the birth and formation history of galaxies, and the abundance of essential molecules such as water in the early stages of star and planet formation. In addition to these three fundamental questions, SPHEREx is going to measure the spectrum over the entire sky, which is going to be a bonanza for astronomers, across the world. It's the first data set of its kind, and it's going to be full of interesting objects for astronomers to study for decades.

The great thing about SPHEREx is not only will we view the entire sky four times, but we will see it in nearly 100 near-infrared colors, and that's really never been done before. So I think that's even more exciting that we will have so much great data in so many different colors, is something to really look forward to. SPHEREx looks a little bit like a box with a big shiny umbrella upside down on it. Some people think that our photon shield, which protects the instrument from earth and sunshine, looks a little bit like a flower because it has several layers to it, like a rose. We know there are about 100 billion galaxies in the universe, maybe more, but we still don't have a good understanding how these galaxies came to be.

If they all form at the same time, did they change in size and luminosity or brightness over time? So the intent with SPHEREx is for us to figure out the formation history of galaxies. Where do they exactly form and how do they grow over cosmic time? SPHEREx will allow us to make a three dimensional map of the universe to map out where the galaxies are located on the sky, take a full census of galaxy counts and the galaxy distribution and galaxy types. And that information is crucial for us, because that will allow us to separate various theories we have right now on the formation and growth of galaxies.

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