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NASA telescope “SphereX” lifted off in California

The infrared telescope will scan the sky for two years.(Bild: AP/AP ( via APA) Austria Presse Agentur)

A new NASA space telescope is to get to the bottom of the origins of the universe. The telescope, named "SphereX", was launched into space from a spaceport in the US state of California on a Falcon 9 rocket from the private space company SpaceX, which is owned by tech billionaire Elon Musk.

The "SphereX" telescope (Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization and Ices Explorer) is shaped like a megaphone and the size of a garden shed. The infrared telescope will scan the sky for two years.

Hope for new discoveries
"We are the first mission to look at the whole sky in so many colors," said NASA scientist Jamie Bock. "Whenever astronomers look at the sky in a new way, we can expect to make discoveries."

The infrared telescope will spend two years scanning the sky.(Bild: AP/AP ( via APA) Austria Presse Agentur)

What the researchers are hoping for: new insights into the formation of the universe and support in the search for ice and organic molecules.

Four satellites also launched
The "Punch" mission (Polarimeter to Unify the Corona and Heliosphere) was launched together with "SphereX" - four small satellites designed to study the solar wind.