Here’s the launch plan for NASA’s SPHEREx and PUNCH missions: ‘Liftoff is just the beginning’

A conical spacecraft on top of other metal material. The two look to be attached and there are two giant white pieces of the capsule on either side of the payload, ready to close.

After more than a week of delays, two new NASA missions have been cleared for liftoff tonight (March 8). The space agency’s SPHEREx and PUNCH missions, which are sharing a ride aboard the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, are scheduled to lift off no earlier than 10:09 p.m. EST (7:09 p.m. PST) tonight from Launch Complex … Read more

NASA will soon launch PUNCH to study how the Sun influences space

artist's concept of PUNCH constellation in space

PUNCH is a group of four satellites that will orbit Earth above the day-night terminator to study the Sun. Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center Conceptual Image Lab On March 2, a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket is scheduled to launch the Polarimeter to Unify the Corona and Heliosphere (PUNCH) mission into low Earth orbit. From … Read more

NASA set to deliver a knock-out PUNCH to mysteries of the solar wind

An illustration of a silvery satellite above Earth.

The secrets of the solar wind will soon come under renewed scrutiny thanks to the launch of an upcoming NASA mission that will gaze at the sun and the inner solar system. The mission, called PUNCH, which stands for the Polarimeter to Unify the Corona and Heliosphere, is a constellation of four suitcase-sized satellites that … Read more

NASA sets launch date for SPHEREx telescope with PUNCH

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NASA’s latest space telescope, SPHEREx, scheduled for launch on 28 February in tandem with another mission called PUNCH, has been hailed for both the colour range of the images it will produce and its ability to “peer back” to the first second after the Big Bang. What the telescope will actually do, however, is somewhat … Read more