SpaceX appears to be continuing its series of NASA launch contract awards, winning $ 98.8 million for the launch of a galaxy-mapping spacecraft known as SPHEREx in 2024.
Designed to conduct surveys of hundreds of millions to billions of stars and galaxies in a vast area of the universe, SPHEREx’s primary scientific goal is to better understand and quantify the state of the universe in relation to the Big Bang. In addition, the space telescope could be used to map the presence of water ice in the Milky Way, potentially helping determine the role ice plays in the formation of stars and planets.
Curiously, the best current estimate of the mass of SPHEREx puts the small but capable space telescope at about 200 kg (440 lb). “It’s just a bit too big for Pegasus [XL] now, but it’s a pretty small business, ”said lead researcher Jamie Bock in a 2019 interview. SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket far exceeds such a small payload and is capable of delivering at least 5-10 tons in the target 700 km (~ 435 miles) of SPHEREx polar orbit.
At nearly $ 99 million, it is also a relatively expensive Falcon 9 launch contract, although it continues a recent trend of the rocket winning nearly nine-figure launch contracts for NASA’s small scientific spacecraft. However, according to the US Government Accountability Office (GAO), NASA had set aside $ 120 million for the SPHEREx launch contract, meaning SpaceX probably still saved the US taxpayer more than $ 21 million compared to the cheapest possible ULA Atlas V configuration . All told, including the launch cost, the SPHEREx mission is now expected to cost NASA about $ 340 million.
In addition to the oddity of this NASA award, SpaceX won a $ 80.4 million contract to launch NASA’s ~ $ 900 million PACE oceanographic observatory on a Falcon 9 rocket in the same year as SPHEREx. It’s hard to explain why NASA’s Launch Service Program (LSP) would pay nearly 25% Lake than PACE to launch SPHEREx, a spacecraft many times smaller and less than half the total cost. SPHEREx isn’t alone, though, and SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket has also won a $ 106 million NASA contract to launch the ~ $ 750 million IMAP mission, $ 50 million for the ~ $ IXPE mission. 140 million, and $ 112 million to launch the ~ $ 750 million SWOT. mission, and $ 69 million to launch NASA’s $ 250 million DART spacecraft.
At the same time, Virgin Orbit’s LauncherOne rocket and Firefly’s Alpha – both actively involved with NASA – could likely take SPHEREx to its intended orbit for a whopping $ 50-80 million less than the cost of SpaceX’s launch contract.
Ultimately, SPHEREx continues a series of lucrative wins on the launch contract for SpaceX, strengthening the company’s strong relationship with NASA as it prepares for increasingly important scientific launches on Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy rockets.