Called SPHEREx, and set for launch on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Space Force Base no sooner than Tuesday night, the telescope will go into a polar orbit that will allow it to survey the entire sky in 102 different wavelengths every six months.

The SPHEREx Observatory is shown after having completed standalone operations in the West High Bay at Astrotech Space Operations Payload Processing Facility at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, U.S., in this handout photo obtained by Reuters on February 24, 2025. NASA/JPL-Caltech/Handout via REUTERS

NASA will load a piece of precious cargo worth half a billion dollars onto a Falcon 9 rocket, which will inject it into low Earth orbit (LEO). That cargo is SPHEREx—short for Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe,

NASA is gearing up for an exciting launch with SPHEREx, a space telescope designed to uncover the history of the universe while searching for signs of life. Hitching a ride on the same rocket, the PUNCH mission will peer into the Sun’s outer layers to study solar wind.