The Ministry of Science and ICT (MSIT, Minister: Lee Jong-Ho) and the Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute (KASI) announced the successful development of the testing equipment for the NASA SPHEREx, which stands for Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization, and Ices Explorer. The SPHEREx is an all-sky spectral survey telescope project that 12 institutes including NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), California Institute of Technology (Caltech), and KASI participate. It took KASI three years to develop with an aim to test the performance of the telescope on the ground.
The core device of the developed equipment is the cryogenic vacuum chamber. This chamber was specifically designed to suit the SPHEREx, and will create the vacuum and cryogenic state below minus 220 degrees Celsius, the state that telescope will face in the space. The SPHEREx will go into the chamber to test imaging performance under extreme environment. KASI also developed loading devices and other optic devices for the SPHEREx. Using the cryogenic vacuum chamber, KASI will lead the space environment testing, develop data investigation software, and participate in the core science researches.
A SPHEREx instrument scientist and a researcher at Caltech said “It’s absolutely essential that we get this thing sharply into focus before we fly, and the only way to accomplish that is through specific cryogenic optical testing in the environment provided by the KASI chamber.”
Director-General Kwon Hyun-Joon of Space, Nuclear, and Big Science Policy Bureau of MSIT said “The equipment that Korea developed is one of the most major hardware equipment in the SPHEREx project.” He added, “MSIT plans to expand the cooperative research projects with various global research institutes in order to secure core technologies that can lead the field of space survey.”
For further information, please contact the Public Relations Division (Phone: +82-44-202-4034, E-mail: msitpress@korea.kr) of the Ministry of Science and ICT.
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