NASA is gearing up for its first-ever rideshare flight in support of the Science Mission Directorate (SMD), featuring two significant missions aboard the same Falcon 9 rocket on Monday night. The missions include the Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization and Ices Explorer (SPHEREx) observatory and four spacecraft that comprise the Polarimeter to UNify the Corona and Heliosphere (PUNCH) project. Liftoff is scheduled from Space Launch Complex 4 East at Vandenberg Space Force Base at 8:10 p.m. PDT (11:10 p.m. EDT, 0310 UTC).
A joint NASA-SpaceX launch readiness review occurred on Friday, initially setting the mission for Saturday. However, NASA decided to postpone the launch to allow teams to further conduct rocket checkouts ahead of liftoff. Live coverage of the event will be provided by Spaceflight Now, commencing approximately one hour prior to the launch.
This groundbreaking mission represents a shift in how the Science Mission Directorate approaches payload launches. During a prelaunch news conference, Mark Clampin, the acting deputy associate administrator for SMD, emphasized that this rideshare strategy is intended to enhance launch efficiency by deploying multiple payloads simultaneously. “We maximize our science return,” Clampin stated, highlighting the diverse scientific objectives of the missions.
Julianna Scheiman, director of NASA Science Missions for SpaceX, indicated that this is just the beginning of a series of rideshare missions planned for the year. Upcoming missions include the Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe (IMAP) and Tandem Reconnection and Cusp Electrodynamics Reconnaissance Satellites (TRACERS), which are anticipated to launch later in 2023. Though details regarding the specific missions carrying IMAP and TRACERS remain undisclosed, a press release from the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory projected a potential launch window as early as September 2025.
The Falcon 9 rocket’s first stage booster, tail number B1088, will be flying for the third time during this launch. Previous missions included NROL-126 for the National Reconnaissance Office and the Transporter-12 rideshare mission, which successfully delivered 131 payloads. Approximately eight minutes post-liftoff, B1088 is expected to land back at Landing Zone 4 (LZ-4) at Vandenberg, aiming for a record 24th recovery at this site.
However, the journey to this launch has not been without its challenges. Launch director Denton Gibson acknowledged the numerous hurdles that the team faced, which led to several launch delays. Integration issues, particularly with the environmental control systems within the payload fairings, required careful attention and resolution. “We realized that a series of inserts had become ovalized, necessitating a pause to ensure a safe path to flight,” Scheiman explained.
The two NASA missions aboard the Falcon 9 rocket aim to deepen our understanding of the universe's origins and the nature of solar winds. The SPHEREx mission, an infrared telescope, is set to map the entire night sky four times during its planned two-year mission. It will utilize 102 color bands to identify targets for future observatories, including the James Webb Space Telescope and the Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope. With a budget of $488 million, SPHEREx is managed by JPL and developed in collaboration with Caltech and Ball Aerospace.
SPHEREx is scheduled to separate from the Falcon 9 rocket approximately 42 minutes after liftoff, with three opportunities for ground teams to establish communication with the observatory. The mission aims to create a three-dimensional map of over 400 million galaxies and explore interstellar clouds of ice, helping scientists understand the conditions following the Big Bang.
In addition to SPHEREx, the PUNCH mission will deploy four spacecraft from the Falcon 9 rocket shortly after liftoff. This mission, part of NASA’s Small Explorers (SMEX) program, has a budget of $150 million and aims to study the solar wind's three-dimensional structure. The PUNCH spacecraft include a narrow field imager (NFI) coronagraph and three wide field imager (WFI) heliospheric imagers, which will work collaboratively to enhance our understanding of solar phenomena.
Understanding the solar wind is crucial for predicting space weather and its potential impacts on both space assets and terrestrial infrastructure. David Cheney, the PUNCH program executive, highlighted the significance of these missions in advancing our knowledge of solar dynamics.
This upcoming launch marks a significant milestone for Nasa and SpaceX as they embrace a new approach to scientific missions through rideshare initiatives. With SPHEREx and PUNCH set to explore critical scientific questions, the collaboration promises to enhance our understanding of the universe and solar dynamics for years to come.
