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Overview: SPHEREx is a NASA Medium Explorer mission designed to 1) constrain the physics of inflation by measuring its imprints on the three-dimensional large-scale distribution of matter, 2) trace the history of galactic light production through a deep multi-band measurement of large-scale clustering, and 3) investigate the abundance and composition of water and biogenic ices in the early phases of star and planetary disk formation. SPHEREx will obtain near-infrared 0.75-5.0 um spectra every 6" over the entire sky. It implements a simple instrument design with a single observing mode to map the entire sky four times during its nominal 25-month mission. SPHEREx will also have strong scientific synergies with other missions and observatories, resulting in a rich legacy archive of spectra that will bear on numerous scientific investigations. The mission PI is Jamie Bock (Caltech). SPHEREx is scheduled to launch towards the end of February 2025.

SPHEREx is an all-sky spectroscopic survey mission conducting 4 all-sky surveys over 2 years, providing the first near-infrared all-sky spectral survey for the astronomical community with a data pipeline operated at IPAC and a data archive hosted by the NASA IPAC Infrared Science Archive.

Dimensions of IPAC explores the wide spectrum of activities happening at IPAC, and here we highlight IPAC's role in the SPHEREx mission. Written and directed by Chiara Villanueva.