Space

NASA has launched a revolutionary telescope that’ll essentially ‘Google Maps’ the sky

  • NASA has launched a new telescope called SPHEREx
  • It will 3D map the celestial sky every six months
  • The mission will last for two years

Published on Mar 13, 2025 at 8:50 AM (UTC+4)
by Claire Reid

Last updated on Mar 13, 2025 at 1:34 PM (UTC+4)
Edited by Kate Bain

NASA has launched a new telescope named SPHEREx that will be able to create a 3D map of the entire sky every six months. 

SPHEREx – or Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization and Ices Explore to give it its full moniker – was launched on March 11. 

It blasted off aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 from California. 

The new telescope has been tasked with creating a 3D map of the entire celestial sky every six months – helping to give scientists a better understanding of the universe.

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SPHEREx will now embark on a two-year long mission

The US Space agency has said SPHEREx is set to ‘study the origins of our universe and the history of galaxies, and to search for the ingredients of life in our galaxy’.

NASA sent SPHEREx up into space alongside four small satellites from its Polarimeter to Unify the Corona and Heliosphere (PUNCH) mission that will study solar wind by gazing into the Sun’s atmosphere.

NASA has launched a revolutionary telescope that'll essentially Google Maps the sky
NASA

“Everything in NASA science is interconnected, and sending both SPHEREx and PUNCH up on a single rocket doubles the opportunities to do incredible science in space,” associate administrator, Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington Nicky Fox said.

“Congratulations to both mission teams as they explore the cosmos from far-out galaxies to our neighborhood star. I am excited to see the data returned in the years to come.”

SPHEREx will now have a one-month ‘checkout period’, while scientists and engineers check its working properly, before it begins its two-year mission. 

NASA says it will create a giant 3D map of the skies every six months

As part of that mission, SPHEREx will create a giant 3D map of the entire celestial sky every six months or so – a bit like Google Maps but on a much larger scale. 

These maps will be used to provide a wider perspective to the work of space telescopes such as the Hubble Space Telescope and the James Webb Telescope – that observe much smaller and more detailed sections of the sky. 

To create the maps, the mission will use a special technique called ‘spectroscopy’ to measure the distance to 450 million galaxies in the nearby universe.

NASA has launched a revolutionary telescope called SPHEREx that'll essentially Google Maps the sky
NASA

The technique can also be used to reveal the composition of cosmic objects, which could hold secrets to how the universe works. 

“Questions like ‘How did we get here?’ and ‘Are we alone?’ have been asked by humans for all of history,” SPHEREx project manager at JPL James Fanson said.

“I think it’s incredible that we are alive at a time when we have the scientific tools to actually start to answer them.”

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Claire Reid is a journalist who hails from the UK but is now living in New Zealand. She began her career after graduating with a degree in Journalism from Liverpool John Moore’s University and has more than a decade of experience, writing for both local newspapers and national news sites. Claire covers a wide variety of topics, with a special focus on cars, technology, planes, cryptocurrency, and luxury.