NASA is preparing to launch a megaphone-shaped observatory on a mission to better understand what happened immediately after the Big Bang that initiated the universe and to search the Milky Way for reservoirs of water,

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Nasa) is set to launch an ambitious mission, SPHEREx, a mega telescope designed to scan over 450 million galaxies in the Universe in search of the origins of life.

NASA will load a piece of precious cargo worth half a billion dollars onto a Falcon 9 rocket, which will inject it into low Earth orbit (LEO). That cargo is SPHEREx—short for Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe,

NASA is gearing up for an exciting launch with SPHEREx, a space telescope designed to uncover the history of the universe while searching for signs of life. Hitching a ride on the same rocket, the PUNCH mission will peer into the Sun’s outer layers to study solar wind.