SPHEREx & PUNCH

Overview

Destination: Polar Orbit
Mission: Astrophysics

Polar Orbit Space Launch Complex 4E Vandenberg SFB, CA, USA

SPHEREx is a planned two-year astrophysics mission to survey the sky in the near-infrared light, which, though not visible to the human eye, serves as a powerful tool for answering cosmic questions involving the birth of the universe, and the subsequent development of galaxies. It also will search for water and organic molecules – essentials for life as we know it – in regions where stars are born from gas and dust, known as stellar nurseries, as well as disks around stars where new planets could be forming. Astronomers will use the mission to gather data on more than 300 million galaxies, as well as more than 100 million stars in our own Milky Way galaxy. NASA’s Polarimeter to Unify the Corona and Heliosphere (PUNCH) mission will share a ride to space with SPHEREx. It consists of four suitcase-sized satellites, which will focus on the Sun’s outer atmosphere (the corona) and how it generates the solar wind. The spacecraft also will track coronal mass ejections – large eruptions of solar material that can drive large space weather events near Earth – to better understand their evolution and develop new techniques for predicting such eruptions.

Updates

Nosu • Aug. 19, 2022, 7:13 a.m.

NET April 2025, adding rideshare payload


Nosu • June 24, 2022, 11:55 a.m.

NET February 2025



Falcon 9

Family: Falcon
Configuration: Block 5

Falcon 9 is a two-stage rocket designed and manufactured by SpaceX for the reliable and safe transport of satellites and the Dragon spacecraft into orbit. The Block 5 variant is the fifth major interval aimed at improving upon the ability for rapid reusability.

See Falcon Details
Specifications
  • Minimum Stage
    1
  • Max Stage
    2
  • Length
    70.0 m
  • Diameter
    3.65 m
  • Fairing Diameter
    5.2 m
  • Launch Mass
    549 T
  • Thrust
    7607 kN
Family
  • Name
    Falcon 9
  • Family
    Falcon
  • Variant
    Block 5
  • Alias
  • Full Name
    Falcon 9 Block 5
Payload Capacity
  • Launch Cost
    $52000000
  • Low Earth Orbit
    22800 kg
  • Geostationary Transfer Orbit
    8300 kg
  • Direct Geostationary
  • Sun-Synchronous Capacity

SpaceX

Circle Image
CEO: Elon Musk Founded: 2002 Successes: 242 Failures: 10 Pending: 110

Agency Type: Commercial

Space Exploration Technologies Corp., known as SpaceX, is an American aerospace manufacturer and space transport services company headquartered in Hawthorne, California. It was founded in 2002 by entrepreneur Elon Musk with the goal of reducing space transportation costs and enabling the colonization of Mars. SpaceX operates from many pads, on the East Coast of the US they operate from SLC-40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station and historic LC-39A at Kennedy Space Center. They also operate from SLC-4E at Vandenberg Space Force Base, California, usually for polar launches. Another launch site is being developed at Boca Chica, Texas.

INFO WIKI

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Vandenberg SFB, CA, USA

Space Launch Complex 4E


Kinetica 1
Success
2 days ago
Flight 2
Unknown Pad - Jiuquan, People's Republic of China

Will carry 26 different satellites on a ride-share launch mission, including Earth observation satellites, details TBD.


Falcon 9
Success
3 days, 12 hours ago
Dragon CRS-2 SpX-28
Launch Complex 39A - Kennedy Space Center, FL, USA

28th commercial resupply services mission to the International Space Station operated by SpaceX. The flight will be conducted under the second Commer…


Falcon 9
Success
4 days, 15 hours ago
Starlink Group 6-4
Space Launch Complex 40 - Cape Canaveral, FL, USA

A batch of 22 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.


Falcon 9
Success
1 week, 1 day ago
Starlink Group 2-10
Space Launch Complex 4E - Vandenberg SFB, CA, USA

A batch of satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.


Chollima 1
Failure
1 week, 2 days ago
Malligyong-1
Malligyong-1 Pad - Sohae Satellite Launching Station, Cholsan County, North Pyongan Province, Democratic People's Republic of Korea

Malligyong-1 (meaning "Telescope-1") is a North Korean satellite officially declared to be for military reconnaissance purposes. It failed to reach o…


Long March 2
Success
1 week, 3 days ago
Shenzhou 16
Launch Area 4 (SLS-1 / 921) - Jiuquan, People's Republic of China

Fifth crewed flight to the Chinese space station.


GSLV Mk II
Success
1 week, 3 days ago
IRNSS-1J (NVS-01)
Satish Dhawan Space Centre Second Launch Pad - Satish Dhawan Space Centre, India

This is a replacement satellite for the Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System. The constellation will provide India with an alternative to GPS …


Falcon 9
Success
1 week, 5 days ago
BADR-8
Space Launch Complex 40 - Cape Canaveral, FL, USA

Geostationary communications satellite built by Airbus Defense and Space and based on the Eurostar Neo platform for Arabsat.


Soyuz 2.1a/Fregat-M
Success
1 week, 6 days ago
Kondor-FKA No.1
Cosmodrome Site 1S - Vostochny Cosmodrome, Siberia, Russian Federation

The Kondor-FKA is a small civilian radar Earth observation satellite designed by NPO Mashinostroyeniya as a civilian counterpart to the Kondor-E sate…


Electron
Success
2 weeks ago
TROPICS-3
Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1B - Onenui Station, Mahia Peninsula, New Zealand

Last two operational (TROPICS-06 & TROPICS-07) satellites for NASA's Time-Resolved Observations of Precipitation Structure and Storm Intensity with a…