NASA’s SPHEREx space telescope has officially begun science operations after its March 11 launch. Operating from Earth’s orbit, the observatory will scan the whole sky over two years to study galaxy evolution, the universe’s origins, and life’s building blocks in our galaxy.

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• SPHEREx will take 3,600 images daily for 2 years
• Goal: map entire sky in 3D, trace galaxy evolution
• Mission will study origins of universe, cosmic structure
• Also targets how life-building molecules formed in Milky Way
• Over 100 million galaxies to be mapped during mission
• 11,000+ orbits planned in 25 months of operation
• Circles Earth ~14.5 times daily
• Underwent 6 weeks of calibration before full ops began
• Complements upcoming Nancy Grace Roman Telescope
• NASA sees it as vital to solving major cosmic mysteries