Operator
NASA Jet Propulsion LaboratoryManufacturer
NASA Jet Propulsion LaboratorySPHEREX/PUNCH
3/12/2025
NASA awarded a contract to SpaceX in February 2021 for the Falcon 9 launch of SPHEREx valued at $98,800,000.
NASA announced the inclusion of PUNCH as a rideshare on the SPHEREx Falcon 9 launch on 2024-08-03.
The SPHEREx launch remains scheduled for no earlier than April 2025, the date NASA announced when it awarded the SPHEREx launch contract.
NASA selected SPHEREx in 2019 as a medium-class Explorer (MIDEX) mission with a cost cap of $242,000,000.
SPHEREx will launch in April 2025 on a SpaceX Falcon 9 from Vandenberg Space Force Base with the NASA heliophysics mission PUNCH flying as a secondary payload.
NASA selected SpaceX in 2021 to launch the SPHEREx mission.