NASA and SpaceX said Monday evening that they were canceling the launch of the SPHEREx and PUNCH spacecraft due to adverse weather at the launch site and some issues with one of the spacecraft.
The Falcon 9 rocket was scheduled to launch at 11:10 p.m. ET from Launch Complex 4 East at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.
However, the missions were cancelled and rescheduled for the same time on Tuesday.
“NASA and SpaceX are abandoning today's launch attempt… due to weather conditions at the launch site and difficulties with the SPHEREx ground data feed,” NASA said in a statement.
“There is a 40% chance of severe weather on Tuesday, March 11, with thick cloud cover continuing.”
Once launched, the SPHEREx and PUNCH spacecraft missions will aim to create a three-dimensional map of hundreds of millions of galaxies to better understand the known Universe.
“We call it ridesharing, and it’s a new strategy that SMD is developing where we can maximize the efficiency of launches by sending two payloads at the same time,” said Mark Clampin, acting deputy associate administrator of the Science Mission Directorate, during a pre-launch press conference. “That way, we increase our science payload,” he added.
SPHEREx stands for Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization and Ices Explorer observatory mission. The four spacecraft make up the Polarimeter to Unify the Corona and Heliosphere mission, also known as PUNCH.
The goal of the two NASA missions will be to create a three-dimensional map of more than 400 million galaxies “in cosmic time,” said James Fanson, SPHEREx project manager at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
Clampin described the launch as “a significant change in the way we do business.”
Meanwhile, SPHEREx is expected to separate from the Falcon 9 rocket about 42 minutes after liftoff, providing three opportunities for ground teams to communicate with the observatory as scientists seek to better understand the origins of the universe and solar winds.
“The other important point that I think is worth emphasizing is that we're not only launching two missions at the same time, but we're also covering the full range of science that NASA does every day,” Clampin said.
“So we're very excited about this launch,” he added.
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