Why Thick Clouds and Tech Glitches Delayed NASA’s Cosmic Quest with SPHEREx and PUNCH?

Описание: Discover why SpaceX and NASA postponed the highly anticipated Falcon 9 launch of the SPHEREx and PUNCH missions for the second time since Saturday night. Originally set for late Monday, the launch was halted less than an hour before liftoff due to thick cloud cover and a spacecraft system glitch, as revealed during a live broadcast. Now rescheduled for Tuesday at 11:10 p.m. ET, these missions aim to unlock cosmic mysteries. SPHEREx, a megaphone-shaped telescope, will survey the sky in 102 infrared wavelengths, capturing 600 daily images to study galaxy evolution, starlight, and the universe’s rapid expansion post-Big Bang. Using spectroscopy, it will map water, life-essential compounds, and galaxy distribution. Meanwhile, PUNCH’s four suitcase-sized satellites will explore solar wind and the sun’s corona with coronagraphs and wide-angle cameras, tracking coronal mass ejections and enhancing space weather forecasts. Orbiting Earth at 400 miles in a sun-synchronous path along the terminator, these missions promise groundbreaking science. Learn how weather delays, technical issues, and the quest to understand the cosmos—from the Milky Way to distant galaxies—collide in this space exploration saga.