1
00:00:10,844 --> 00:00:12,887
SphereX is the first

2
00:00:12,887 --> 00:00:16,599
all sky near-infrared
spectroscopic mission.

3
00:00:17,267 --> 00:00:20,520
We will capture the entire sky four times

4
00:00:20,520 --> 00:00:24,190
in almost 100
different colors of near-infrared.

5
00:00:24,983 --> 00:00:29,446
We will create a legacy catalog
that astronomers will use for decades.

6
00:00:29,946 --> 00:00:34,576
And we will use that data set to answer
three fundamental science questions

7
00:00:34,868 --> 00:00:39,414
about cosmology, galaxy
formation and ices

8
00:00:40,540 --> 00:00:43,543
throughout the solar system.

9
00:00:48,673 --> 00:00:51,342
Some astronomy missions

10
00:00:51,342 --> 00:00:55,263
look at specific objects
that are of interest to astronomers.

11
00:00:55,805 --> 00:00:58,475
But some astronomy missions are surveys,

12
00:00:58,475 --> 00:01:01,269
and many of them are all sky surveys.

13
00:01:01,269 --> 00:01:05,398
And so when they are looking out
at the sky in whatever colors

14
00:01:05,398 --> 00:01:08,443
their sensors
or detectors are searching for,

15
00:01:09,360 --> 00:01:12,197
they look at every part of the sky,

16
00:01:12,197 --> 00:01:16,201
the entire celestial sphere and SphereX
is one of those surveys.

17
00:01:16,659 --> 00:01:20,330
In fact, SphereX will cover the entire sky
four times, not just once.

18
00:01:21,039 --> 00:01:23,083
And every time we cover the sky.

19
00:01:23,083 --> 00:01:25,293
It takes about six months.

20
00:01:25,293 --> 00:01:30,131
Because SphereX is in an orbit
near sunrise and sunset.

21
00:01:30,131 --> 00:01:34,511
And so it's always looking out
at the edge of the Earth, at the path

22
00:01:34,511 --> 00:01:38,473
going forward for the Earth and the path
from which Earth is moving away.

23
00:01:39,015 --> 00:01:44,521
And if you imagine that ring around dawn
and dusk spinning over the course

24
00:01:44,521 --> 00:01:47,524
of six months, that ring spins

25
00:01:47,524 --> 00:01:50,860
180 degrees and makes a complete sphere.

26
00:01:59,744 --> 00:02:01,121
All sky means that

27
00:02:01,121 --> 00:02:04,624
our mission
will look at every point in the sky.

28
00:02:05,041 --> 00:02:08,211
In fact,
one of the requirements of our mission is

29
00:02:08,211 --> 00:02:13,299
that we do have that nearly full coverage
of the entire universe.

30
00:02:13,716 --> 00:02:16,719
So there really shouldn't be any holes,

31
00:02:16,928 --> 00:02:19,931
where we miss taking exposures.

32
00:02:19,931 --> 00:02:22,725
We should have coverage
of every piece of sky

33
00:02:22,725 --> 00:02:25,687
you could look at from Earth,
from any position on Earth.

34
00:02:32,277 --> 00:02:34,279
There have been many on sky surveys

35
00:02:34,279 --> 00:02:37,574
before conducted
by, the astronomy community.

36
00:02:37,824 --> 00:02:40,910
Some of them are ground
surveys taken by telescopes.

37
00:02:41,244 --> 00:02:45,582
Obviously on the ground and covering,
the sky around the Earth.

38
00:02:46,291 --> 00:02:51,546
Some, especially those in the infrared,
are space surveys because it's very hard

39
00:02:51,546 --> 00:02:54,966
to detect infrared light
through the Earth's atmosphere.

40
00:02:56,384 --> 00:03:00,096
The space surveys
conducted for infrared wavelengths

41
00:03:00,138 --> 00:03:03,141
go back to the 80s with IRAS

42
00:03:03,266 --> 00:03:07,145
and continue through the 2000s with WISE.

43
00:03:07,562 --> 00:03:10,648
And now SphereX
will join that group of missions.

44
00:03:10,982 --> 00:03:13,985
But SphereX is unique because it covers

45
00:03:13,985 --> 00:03:18,656
the entire sky,
not just in one or a few colors,

46
00:03:18,656 --> 00:03:21,826
but in nearly 100 colors
of near infrared light.

47
00:03:29,500 --> 00:03:30,001
Well,

48
00:03:30,001 --> 00:03:33,004
infrared isn't the only important
wavelength of light,

49
00:03:33,213 --> 00:03:36,174
but depending on what
your science objectives are,

50
00:03:36,174 --> 00:03:40,929
it may be the color that is of interest
for the area of research.

51
00:03:41,763 --> 00:03:44,557
Astronomers are conducting
for a given mission

52
00:03:44,557 --> 00:03:47,602
and for SphereX with its three science
goals.

53
00:03:47,977 --> 00:03:51,064
Of cosmology and understanding

54
00:03:51,064 --> 00:03:54,317
the origins of the universe
and inflationary theory.

55
00:03:54,859 --> 00:03:58,029
Galaxy formation and ices

56
00:03:58,321 --> 00:04:01,324
that are distributed in our solar system.

57
00:04:02,700 --> 00:04:05,995
The near infrared wavelengths
that we look for

58
00:04:06,537 --> 00:04:09,540
are the perfect wavelengths to see,

59
00:04:10,208 --> 00:04:13,211
effects that those theories require.

60
00:04:20,218 --> 00:04:20,593
Well,

61
00:04:20,593 --> 00:04:23,638
the first thing to note
is that our survey will basically capture

62
00:04:23,680 --> 00:04:29,352
every type of objects, from stars
to asteroids, even some satellite tracks.

63
00:04:29,560 --> 00:04:32,355
But most certainly galaxies.

64
00:04:32,355 --> 00:04:34,691
And the,

65
00:04:34,691 --> 00:04:37,694
background of, space,

66
00:04:38,027 --> 00:04:41,781
the diffuse light
that's left over from the early universe

67
00:04:41,990 --> 00:04:45,201
is one of the main things
that we will also be observing.

68
00:04:46,202 --> 00:04:47,620
However, the reason why our

69
00:04:47,620 --> 00:04:51,374
legacy catalog will be so useful
to the astronomical community

70
00:04:51,791 --> 00:04:57,255
is because we will really see anything
that is observable in near infrared,

71
00:04:57,463 --> 00:05:00,466
and that's a lot of things.

72
00:05:06,097 --> 00:05:09,392
I love surveys, and I love surveys

73
00:05:09,517 --> 00:05:13,563
because rather than looking
at any particular objects,

74
00:05:14,105 --> 00:05:17,692
I love getting statistics
about the universe, because I think that

75
00:05:17,692 --> 00:05:21,654
gives you a more profound understanding
of what is going on in the universe.

76
00:05:22,322 --> 00:05:25,658
And I love the big numbers
that surveys acquire

77
00:05:25,658 --> 00:05:29,370
and the numbers of exposures,
even the volume of the data set.

78
00:05:29,537 --> 00:05:32,540
I think that's really exciting.

79
00:05:37,211 --> 00:05:39,005
The great thing about SphereX

80
00:05:39,005 --> 00:05:44,010
is not only will we view the entire sky
four times, but we will see it

81
00:05:44,010 --> 00:05:49,015
in nearly 100 near-infrared colors,
and that's really never been done before.

82
00:05:49,015 --> 00:05:53,269
So I think that's even more exciting
that we will have so much great data

83
00:05:53,519 --> 00:05:55,271
in so many different colors.

84
00:05:55,271 --> 00:05:56,814
Is something to really look forward to.

85
00:06:03,071 --> 00:06:03,446
Yeah.

86
00:06:03,446 --> 00:06:08,201
So so this spacecraft is not very large.

87
00:06:08,743 --> 00:06:11,746
However,
it has an extremely large field of view.

88
00:06:12,538 --> 00:06:17,293
And so it's capturing a large piece of sky
every time it takes an exposure.

89
00:06:17,710 --> 00:06:20,713
And it's doing this over and over again.

90
00:06:21,214 --> 00:06:24,050
Almost every couple of minutes
with a few gaps now

91
00:06:24,050 --> 00:06:26,886
and then for other things
that need to be done.

92
00:06:26,886 --> 00:06:30,765
And it's doing this for six months
as the earth moves

93
00:06:30,765 --> 00:06:34,310
halfway around
its revolution around the sun.

94
00:06:35,103 --> 00:06:38,106
And in doing that,
we get a full sky coverage,

95
00:06:38,648 --> 00:06:41,401
by looking out from the Earth and orbiting

96
00:06:41,401 --> 00:06:44,404
and taking these exposures
every two minutes.

97
00:06:44,904 --> 00:06:47,782
And so by doing this four times or two

98
00:06:47,782 --> 00:06:50,827
years,
we are able to get four full sky coverage.