Abstract:
In this talk I will summarize the development of the NASA SPHEREx
mission, managed by JPL with Ball Aerospace Corp as the industrial
partner for launch by SpaceX in June 2025. SPHEREx will map out the
whole sky at least four times in 102 narrow spectral bands between
0.75 and 5 microns. These data will lead to 3D locations for close to
a billion galaxies for a fine test on the non-Gaussianity of galaxy
spatial distribution that could be a signature of physics during
inflation. Other science goals are to study water and CO ices of
planet formation in our galaxy and to discover a large number of brown
dwarfs, highest redshift quasars, among others. Using SPHEREx as a
guide, I will end the talk describing the path for FIRSST, a
far-infrared probe mission for NASA that is now in its earliest stages
of formulation.
Zoom link:
https://uci.zoom.us/j/93369218691?pwd=YlBjcjI1Mno3U095Rm9XaHJ6WlkwUT09