| Abstract: |
The latest NASA astrophysics mission, SPHEREx, launched into low Earth orbit from Vandenberg Space Force Base on March 11 2025. SPHEREx is designed to construct the first all-sky near infrared spectral survey. It will deliver a NIR spectrum towards every 6.2" pointing on the celestial sphere. Along with the general survey released to the community, the instrument was optimized to address three science themes: To probe the inflation epoch in the very early Universe through statistical studies of large scale structure, to study the history of galaxy formation through the Extragalactic Background Light, and to map water ice absorption in the plane of the Milky Way. I will give an overview of the science program with an emphasis on its cosmological implications.
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