A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched two NASA science probes on March 11, 2025 in a spectacular nighttime liftoff from California after multiple delays. Shortly after launch, the rocket deployed both probes, leading to this breathtaking image of NASA’s SPHEREx spacecraft heading to its polar orbit.
What is it?
SpaceX’s workhorse Falcon 9 rocket has launched dozens of high-value payloads for NASA, and this launch was no different. The two spacecraft onboard, NASA’s SPHEREx (Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization and Ices Explorer) and PUNCH (Polarimeter to Unify the Corona and Heliosphere), will provide scientists with a valuable data for years to come.
In this photo, SPHEREx’s large, cone-shaped photon shield is visible shortly after deployment. The shield keeps unwanted light away from the probe’s main instrument, which can detect 102 wavelengths of infrared light.
Where is it?
The launch took place from Vandenberg Space Force Base near Los Angeles, California. Vandenberg provides a convenient location for launching spacecraft and other payloads into polar orbit.
In this photo, SPHEREx is heading towards its polar orbit, which will see it circle Earth’s poles from north to south along the terminator line, the imaginary line that separates day and night on Earth.
Why is it amazing?
PUNCH and SPHEREx are next-generation space observatories that will help scientists answer burning questions about our solar system and beyond.
SPHEREx will study the universe in infrared light to observe objects that are invisible to the human eye. The probe will map the entire sky in 102 wavelengths of infrared light, collecting data on up to 450 million galaxies and over 100 million stars in our own Milky Way galaxy.
PUNCH, meanwhile, is designed to study how the sun’s outer atmosphere, or corona, turns into the solar wind.
Want to know more?
Learn more about how NASA’s new solar probe will deliver a knock-out PUNCH to mysteries of the solar wind, or why SPHEREx’s upcoming infrared observations are such a big deal.
And don’t miss our launch coverage with more photos and video from last night’s liftoff.
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