The SPHEREx Satellite Mission
Abstract
SPHEREx, a NASA explorer satellite launched on 11 March 2025, is carrying out the first all-sky near-infrared spectral survey. The satellite observes in 102 spectral bands from 0.75 to 5.0 um with a resolving power ranging from 35 to 130 in 6.2 arcsecond pixels. The observatory obtains a 5-sigma depth of 19.5 - 19.9 AB mag for 0.75 to 3.8 um and 17.8 - 18.8 AB mag for 3.8 to 5.0 um after mapping the full sky four times over two years. Scientifically, SPHEREx will produce a large galaxy redshift survey over the full sky, intended to constrain the amplitude of inflationary non-Gaussianity. The observations will produce two deep spectral maps near the ecliptic poles that will use intensity mapping to probe the evolution of galaxies over cosmic history. By mapping the depth of infrared absorption features over the Galactic plane, SPHEREx will comprehensively survey the abundance and composition of water and other biogenic ice species in the interstellar medium. The initial data are rapidly released in the form of spectral images to the public. The project will release specialized data products over the life of the mission as the surveys proceed. The science team will also produce specialized spectral catalogs on planet-bearing and low-mass stars, solar system objects, and galaxy clusters 3 years after launch. We describe the design of the instrument and spacecraft, which flow from the core science requirements. Finally, we present an initial evaluation of the in-flight performance and key characteristics.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.2511.02985,
title = {The SPHEREx Satellite Mission},
author = {James J. Bock and Asad M. Aboobaker and Joseph Adamo and Rachel Akeson and John M. Alred and Farah Alibay and Matthew L. N. Ashby and Yoonsoo P. Bach and Lindsey E. Bleem and Douglas Bolton and David F. Braun and Sean Bruton and Sean A. Bryan and Tzu-Ching Chang and Shuang-Shuang Chen and Yun-Ting Cheng and James R. Cheshire and Yi-Kuan Chiang and Jean Choppin de Janvry and Samuel Condon and Walter R. Cook and Asantha Cooray and Brendan P. Crill and Ari J. Cukierman and Olivier Dore and C. Darren Dowell and Gregory P. Dubois-Felsmann and Tim Eifler and Spencer Everett and Beth E. Fabinsky and Andreas L. Faisst and James L. Fanson and Allen H. Farrington and Tamim Fatahi and Candice M. Fazar and Richard M. Feder and Eric H. Frater and Henry S. Grasshorn Gebhardt and Utkarsh Giri and Tatiana Goldina and Varoujan Gorjian and Salman Habib and William G. Hart and Chen Heinrich and Joseph L. Hora and Zhaoyu Huai and Howard Hui and Young-Soo Jo and Woong-Seob Jeong and Jae Hwan Kang and Miju Kang and Branislav Kecman and Chul-Hwan Kim and Jaeyeong Kim and Minjin Kim and Young-Jun Kim and Yongjung Kim and J. Davy Kirkpatrick and Yosuke Kobayashi and Phil M. Korngut and Elisabeth Krause and Bomee Lee and Ho-Gyu Lee and Jae-Joon Lee and Jeong-Eun Lee and Carey M. Lisse and Giacomo Mariani and Daniel C. Masters and Philip D. Mauskopf and Gary J. Melnick and Mary H. Minasyan and Jordan Mirocha and Hiromasa Miyasaka and Anne Moore and Bradley D. Moore and Giulia Murgia and Bret J. Naylor and Christina Nelson and Chi H. Nguyen and Hien T. Nguyen and Jinyoung K. Noh and Stephen Padin and Roberta Paladini and Sung-Joon Park and Konstantin I. Penanen and Dustin S. Putnam and Jeonghyun Pyo and Nesar Ramachandra and Keshav Ramanathan and Zafar Rustamkulov and Daniel J. Reiley and Eric B. Rice and Jennifer M. Rocca and Ji Yeon Seok and Roger Smith and Jeremy Stober and Sara Susca and Harry I. Teplitz and Michael P. Thelen and Volker Tolls and Gabriela Torrini and Amy R. Trangsrud and Stephen Unwin and Phani Velicheti and Pao-Yu Wang and Robin Y. Wen and Michael-W. -Werner and Abby E. Williams and Ross Williamson and James Wincentsen and Rogier A. Windhorst and Soung-Chul Yang and Yujin Yang and Michael Zemcov},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2511.02985},
year = {2025}
}
Comments
30 pages, 21 figures. Accepted by Astrophysical Journal on 9 December 2025