The SPHEREx Instrument: Calibration, Testing, and Performance Measurements of the Near-infrared Spectroscopic Surveyor from the Laboratory to In-orbit Commissioning

November 2026 • 2026ApJS..287...35K

Authors • Korngut, Phil M. • Bock, James J. • Condon, Samuel • Dowell, C. Darren • Fazar, Candice M. • Hui, Howard • Moore, Bradley D. • Naylor, Bret J. • Nguyen, Chi H. • Padin, Stephen • Wincentsen, James • Aboobaker, Asad M. • Akeson, Rachel • Alred, John M. • Alibay, Farah • Ashby, Matthew L. N. • Bach, Yoonsoo P. • Bichel, Joseph • Bolton, Douglas • Braun, David F. • Brown, Thomas • Bryan, Sean A. • Burnham, Jill • Burk, Thomas A. • Burke, Nicholas • Catching, Ben • Chang, Tzu-Ching • Chen, Shuang-Shuang • Cheng, Yun-Ting • Chiang, Yi-Kuan • Chong, Yong • Cooray, Asantha • Cook, Walter R. • Cormarkovic, Velibor • Crill, Brendan P. • Cukierman, Ari J. • Davis, Andrew • Darga, Dan • Disarro, Thomas • Doré, Olivier • Fabinsky, Beth E. • Faisst, Andreas L. • Fanson, James L. • Farrington, Allen H. • Fatahi, Tamim • Feder, Richard M. • Frater, Eric H. • Goldina, Tatiana • Gorjian, Varoujan • Hart, William G. • Hendricks, Warren • Hora, Joseph L. • Hristov, Viktor • Huai, Zhaoyu • Hulse, Charles A. • Jo, Young-Soo • Jeong, Woong-Seob • Kamei, Makenzie L. • Kang, Jae Hwan • Kecman, Branislav • Marchant, Will • Mariani, Giacomo • Masters, Daniel C. • Melnick, Gary J. • Miyasaka, Hiromasa • Murgia, Giulia • Nelson, Christina • Nguyen, Hien T. • Owen, Christopher • Paladini, Roberta • Park, Sung-Joon • Patil, Harshad • Penanen, Konstantin • Piazzo, Chris • Pyo, Jeonghyun • Quon, Amelia • Ramanathan, Keshav • Rustamkulov, Zafar • Reiley, Daniel J. • Rice, Eric B. • Ridenhour, Flora • Roberts, Amber • Rocca, Jennifer M. • Signorini, Alessandro • Susca, Sara • Tolls, Volker • Velicheti, Phani • Wang, Pao-Yu • Werner, Michael W. • White, Casey • Williamson, Ross • Yang, Yujin • Zemcov, Michael

Abstract • The SPHEREx near-infrared space telescope is an all-sky spectroscopic survey mission launched on 2025 March 12 UTC. In addition to providing the community with a spectral database applicable to a wide range of investigations, it is optimized to address three core science goals: to survey the large-scale structure of the Universe for signatures of non-Gaussianity during inflation, to conduct intensity mapping studies of the extragalactic background light for probing the history of galaxy evolution, and to survey the plane of the Milky Way for the prevalence and distribution of water and other biogenic ices. Each of these science goals imposes unique requirements on the performance of the instrument. We detail the design and testing strategies and report the performance results for the full instrument test campaign, ranging from component-level screening to in-orbit tests during the commissioning phase. The instrument, currently operating in full science survey mode, meets all of its driving requirements including optical performance, point-source sensitivity, thermal stability, and correlated noise minimization.

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