We are less than 15 days away from launching SPHEREx, a mission that will observe hundreds of millions of stars and galaxies in infrared light, a range of wavelengths not visible to the human eye. With this map, SPHEREx will enable scientists to study inflation, or the rapid expansion of the universe a fraction of a second after the big bang.

The observatory also will measure the collective glow from galaxies near and far, including light from hidden galaxies that individually haven’t been observed, and look for reservoirs of water, carbon dioxide, and other key ingredients for life in our home galaxy.

Tune in as we speak with experts from the mission, both at Vandenberg Space Force Base and NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California, and see the space observatory up close and speak with experts from the mission. You'll hear from:
- Jenn Rocca, SPHEREx project systems engineer, JPL
- Phil Korngut, SPHEREx instrument scientist, Caltech

SHPEREx is expected to launch from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California in February 2025.

For more information on SPHEREx, visit www.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/spherex/.

Three small lunar rovers were packed up at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory for the first leg of their multistage journey to the Moon. These suitcase-size rovers, along with a base station and camera system that will record their travels on the lunar surface, make up NASA’s CADRE (Cooperative Autonomous Distributed Robotic Exploration) technology demonstration.

CADRE aims to prove that a group of robots can collaborate to gather data without receiving direct commands from mission controllers on Earth, paving the way for potential future multirobot missions.

Seen here are tests of the CADRE software in January 2024 and scenes of a rover getting flipped over, attached to an aluminum plate for transit, and sealed into a protective metal-frame enclosure that was later packed into a metal shipping container a year later, in January 2025.

The hardware was transported from JPL to Intuitive Machines’ Houston facility, where it will be integrated with the company’s Nova-C lander. Intuitive Machines’ third lunar mission (IM-3), which has a mission window extending into early 2026, will deliver CADRE and other NASA payloads to the Moon’s Reiner Gamma region.

JPL, a division of Caltech in Pasadena, California, manages CADRE for the Game Changing Development program within NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate. IM-3 is a mission under NASA’s CLPS (Commercial Lunar Payload Services) initiative, which is managed by the agency’s Science Mission Directorate.

More information about CADRE can be found at go.nasa.gov/cadre

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

NASA news conference to discuss a new telescope that will improve our understanding of how the universe evolved and search for key ingredients for life in our galaxy.

Agency experts will preview NASA’s SPHEREx (Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization and Ices Explorer) mission, which will help scientists better understand the structure of the universe, how galaxies form and evolve, and the origins and abundance of water.

Launch is targeted for no earlier than Thursday, Feb. 27.

Laurie Leshin, director, NASA JPL, will provide opening remarks. Additional briefing participants include:
- Shawn Domagal-Goldman, acting director, Astrophysics Division, NASA Headquarters
- James Fanson, project manager, SPHEREx, NASA JPL
- Beth Fabinsky, deputy project manager, SPHEREx, NASA JPL
- Jamie Bock, principal investigator, SPHEREx, Caltech
- Cesar Marin, SPHEREx integration engineer, Launch Services Program, NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida

For more information on the mission, go to: https://nasa.gov/spherex

What are some skywatching highlights in February 2025?

Venus blazes at its brightest in the early evening, despite being only a slim crescent through the telescope eyepiece. Mars and Jupiter to rule the night sky after Venus sets, amid the menagerie of bright winter stars in Orion, Taurus, and Gemini. And enhance your astronomy IQ by knowing the difference between a conjunction and an appulse.

0:00 Intro
0:13 Moon & planets
0:41 Appulses
1:39 Venus at maximum
2:51 February Moon phases

Additional information about topics covered in this episode of What's Up, along with still images from the video, and the video transcript, are available at https://science.nasa.gov/skywatching/whats-up.

Go behind the scenes with the team working on NASA’s SPHEREx space telescope as they talk through their rigorous testing process.

Short for Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization and Ices Explorer, SPHEREx aims to capture millions of stars and galaxies in 102 colors, creating a unique 3D map to uncover clues about the universe’s origins.

This video features Farah Alibay, a SPHEREx systems engineer at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and Brian Pramann, SPHEREx program manager at BAE Systems.

Learn about the special facilities required for SPHEREx’s critical environmental tests, including thermal, acoustic, vibration, and electromagnetic interference and compatibility testing.

NASA is targeting Feb. 27, 2025, for the launch of SPHEREx, which will lift off aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.

For more information on the mission, visit : jpl.nasa.gov/missions/spherex/.

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/BAE Systems

NASA news conference to discuss a new telescope that will improve our understanding of how the universe evolved and search for key ingredients for life in our galaxy.

Agency experts will preview NASA’s SPHEREx (Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization and Ices Explorer) mission, which will help scientists better understand the structure of the universe, how galaxies form and evolve, and the origins and abundance of water.

Launch is targeted for no earlier than Thursday, Feb. 27.

Laurie Leshin, director, NASA JPL, will provide opening remarks. Additional briefing participants include:
- Shawn Domagal-Goldman, acting director, Astrophysics Division, NASA Headquarters
- James Fanson, project manager, SPHEREx, NASA JPL
- Beth Fabinsky, deputy project manager, SPHEREx, NASA JPL
- Jamie Bock, principal investigator, SPHEREx, Caltech
- Cesar Marin, SPHEREx integration engineer, Launch Services Program, NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida

For more information on the mission, go to: https://nasa.gov/spherex

What are some skywatching highlights in January 2025?

This month, four bright planets greet you in the early evening. Venus and Saturn cozy up on the 17th and 18th, while Mars is at its brightest in the past two years. The Moon occults Mars for those in the U.S. and Eastern Canada on Jan. 13. Plus, the Quadrantid meteors peak on the morning of Jan. 3 before dawn.

0:00 Intro
0:14 Four planets at once
1:02 Venus & Saturn Get Close
1:39 Mars at Opposition
2:31 Quadrantid Meteors Peak
3:07 January Moon phases

Additional information about topics covered in this episode of What's Up, along with still images from the video, and the video transcript, are available at https://science.nasa.gov/skywatching/whats-up.

NASA’s SunRISE mission is getting ready to reveal the turbulent workings of our star like never before. Short for Sun Radio Interferometer Space Experiment, SunRISE is an array of six toaster-size spacecraft that will work together to track solar activity and help scientists better understand space weather events.

Our active, churning Sun often sends unpredictable bursts of energy across the solar system in the form of solar flares and coronal mass ejections that can generate beautiful auroras at Earth. While traveling through the Sun’s atmosphere, these energetic events can trigger secondary bursts of solar energetic particles, causing solar radiation storms. At Earth, these storms can damage orbiting spacecraft or unprotected astronauts. SunRISE will map the radio wave emissions that accompany such events for the first time.

In this mission overview, scientists and engineers explain how the mission will help them better understand – and perhaps one day, predict – solar eruptions.

For more information on the SunRISE mission, visit: https://go.nasa.gov/sunrise.

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech; Sun visualizations: NASA GSFC/SDO, SOHO (ESA & NASA); solar particles, radio burst, data transfer, and heliosphere animations: NASA/GSFC Conceptual Image Lab; magnetosphere animation: NASA’s Scientific Visualization Studio/SWRC/CCMC/SWMF; astronaut footage: NASA/JSC; satellite orbits animation and M1 Flare visualization: NASA Scientific Visualization Studio; stock footage provided by Logoboom/Rozum/Zol/Pond5.

A time-lapse video of construction operations for a new antenna at the NASA Deep Space Network’s Goldstone Space Communications Complex near Barstow, California, on Dec. 18, 2024.

Called Deep Space Station 23 (DSS-23), the new antenna joins others at three Deep Space Network complexes around the world that communicate with spacecraft at the Moon and beyond. During construction operations on Dec. 18, the 112-foot-wide (34-meter-wide) steel parabolic reflector framework was lowered into position by crane before a crew bolted it into place. Shortly after, engineers placed what’s called a quadripod onto the center of the dish framework. A four-legged support structure, the quadripod weighs 16 ½ tons and features a curved subreflector that will direct radio frequency signals from deep space to bounce off the main reflector into the antenna’s pedestal, where the antenna’s receiver is housed.

DSS-23 is a multi-frequency beam waveguide antenna that will boost the DSN’s capacity and enhance NASA’s deep space communications capabilities for decades to come. Once online in 2026, DSS-23 will be the fifth of six new beam waveguide antennas to be added to the network, following DSS-53, which was added at the DSN’s Madrid complex in 2022.

The DSN allows missions to track, send commands to, and receive scientific data from faraway spacecraft. It is managed by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California for the agency’s Space Communications and Navigation (SCaN) program, which is located at NASA Headquarters within the Space Operations Mission Directorate.

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Mars scientists have recently marked a new year on the Red Planet, a milestone that occurs every 687 days. Because the Martian new year coincides with spring in the planet’s northern hemisphere, it’s a time of lots of activity — avalanches, exploding jets of gas, and more. JPL research scientist Serina Diniega explains some of the changes to the Martian surface that scientists can track with spacecraft like NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO).

Circling the Red Planet since 2006, MRO carries a suite of science instruments that collect data on the planet’s surface and atmosphere. Among them is its HiRISE (High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment) camera, which captured many of the detailed views seen here.

For more information on NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter mission, visit: science.nasa.gov/mission/mars-reconnaissance-orbiter

Video credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech; north polar cap image: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS; HiRISE images: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona; erupting jets artist’s concept: ASU/Ron Miller.
Stock footage provided by Pavel_dp/Pond5.