NASA Gears Up for Weekend Launch Carrying Missions to Study the Milky Way and Sun

After a short delay, NASA is set to launch two missions this weekend, SPHEREx and PUNCH, that will map the cosmos and track the Sun’s influence on space. For NASA, it’s one down and one to go. Yesterday, a SpaceX Falcon 9 launched NASA’s Lunar Trailblazer, successfully lifting off from Kennedy Space Center in Florida. And now it’s time for SPHEREx and PUNCH, which were originally expected to launch on Friday from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. The two missions, both encapsulated inside a Falcon 9, are now slated to take off at 10:09 p.m. ET on Sunday, March 2. Both Lunar Trailblazer and SPHEREx are supported by the California Institute of Technology’s Infrared Processing and Analysis Center, or IPAC. Lunar Trailblazer launched to the Moon on Wednesday at 7:16 p.m. ET. The mission will map water, minerals, and temperatures on the lunar surface using two science instruments, dubbed High Resolution Volatiles and Minerals Moon Mapper (HVM3) and the Lunar Thermal Mapper (LTM). ... Read full article.