March 10 (UPI) -- NASA and SpaceX on Monday will launch of its SPHEREx and PUNCH spacecraft's in order to seek a better understanding of the known universe.
The launch on the Falcon 9 first stage booster rocket is targeted for 11:10 p.m. EDT from Space Launch Complex 4 East at California's Vandenberg Space Force Base.
"We call this a ride share and it's a new strategy that SMD is working, where we can maximize the efficiency of launches by flying two payloads at once," Mark Clampin, acting deputy associate administrator for the Science Mission Directorate, stated during a pre-launch news conference. "So we maximize our science return," he added.
A live launch broadcast will begin roughly an hour prior to liftoff for the Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization and Ices Explorer, or SPHEREx, observatory mission and its four spacecraft, which comprise the Polarimeter to Unify the Corona and Heliosphere mission, otherwise known as PUNCH.
The goal of the two NASA missions will be to create a three-dimensional map of more than 400 million galaxies "across cosmic time," according to James Fanson, the SPHEREx project manager at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
Clampin characterized the launch as "a real change in how we do business."
Meanwhile, SPHEREx is projected to separate from the Falcon 9 rocket roughly 42 minutes after liftoff. It will offer three opportunities for on-the-ground teams to establish a signal with the observatory as scientists look for a greater knowledge of universal origins and solar winds.
"The other thing I think is really important to understand is not only are we launching two missions at once, but these missions cover the full breadth of the science that NASA does every day," says Clampin.
"So, we're really excited by this launch," he continued.