Driving Innovation: Mechanical and Optical Processes During Rigid-flex Production
It’s Only Common Sense: Your Biggest Competitor Is Complacency
The Chemical Connection: Onshoring PCB Production—Daunting but Certainly Possible
NASA Awards Launch Services Contract for SPHEREx Astrophysics Mission
February 7, 2021 | NASA JPLEstimated reading time: 1 minute
The mission, which will create a unique map of the entire sky, will catch a ride to space on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.
NASA has selected Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) of Hawthorne, California, to provide launch services for the Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization, and Ices Explorer (SPHEREx) mission. 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.
The total cost for NASA to launch SPHEREx is approximately $98.8 million, which includes the launch service and other mission related costs.
The SPHEREx mission currently is targeted to launch as early as June 2024 on a Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex-4E at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.
NASA’s Launch Services Program at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida will manage the SpaceX launch service. The mission, which is funded by the Astrophysics Division of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate at the agency’s headquarters in Washington, is led by the Explorer’s Program at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California is responsible for the mission’s overall project management, systems engineering, integration, and testing and mission operations.
Share on:
Testimonial
"Our marketing partnership with I-Connect007 is already delivering. Just a day after our press release went live, we received a direct inquiry about our updated products!"
Rachael Temple - AlltematedSuggested Items
Firefly Aerospace Announces Strategic Acquisition of SciTec to Advance National Security Capabilities
10/07/2025 | Firefly AerospaceFirefly Aerospace, a market leading space and defense technology company, has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire SciTec, Inc., a leader in advanced national security technologies, for approximately $855 million through a combination of $300 million in cash and $555 million in Firefly shares issued to SciTec owners at a price of $50 per share.
High-Tech Hill Technology Park Opens: Four New Factories Launched
09/26/2025 | TeltonikaThe ambitious vision announced in late 2020 to build a world-class technology park in Liepkalnis, Vilnius, has become a reality. AGP Investments, led by entrepreneur Arvydas Paukštys, together with high-tech leaders Teltonika and TLT, today inaugurated four new factories at the Vilnius High-Tech Hill Technology Park.
U.S. Manufacturing Jobs Decline Amid Tariffs and Immigration Crackdown
09/17/2025 | I-Connect007 Editorial TeamManufacturers in the U.S. are cutting jobs even as President Donald Trump pushes policies he says will revitalize the industry. Employers shed 12,000 manufacturing jobs in August, while payrolls in the sector have fallen by 42,000 since April, according to a new analysis from the Center for American Progress (CAP) based on government labor data.
Defense Speak Interpreted: If CHIPS Cuts Back, What Happens to Electronics Packaging Funds?
09/02/2025 | Dennis Fritz -- Column: Defense Speak InterpretedIn my May column, I examined the topic of the CHIPS Act and its current status as a U.S. government program. I found that CHIPS activities continue, but some corporations have delayed or canceled them because of budget cuts or corporation-specific problems. However, CHIPS integrated circuits—mostly administered by the Department of Commerce—don’t fully drive the electronics interconnection activity being funded by the government. Let’s cover the progress/status of other programs:
Ecolab to Acquire Ovivo’s Electronics Ultra-Pure Water Business
08/15/2025 | EcolabEcolab Inc. has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Ovivo’s Electronics business, a leading and fast-growing global provider of breakthrough ultra-pure water technologies for semiconductor manufacturing.