NASA Reanimates Psyche Asteroid Mission After Missing Launch

A NASA mission to study one of the most fascinating objects in the asteroid belt gets a second chance. The Psyche mission is now targeting a launch phase in 2023 after missing its first window this year to developmental delays.

NASA decided to continue its Psyche mission after an internal review problems that led to its delaythe space agency announced on Friday. The mission is now targeting a new launch window that will open on October 20, 2023, with the spacecraft launching aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

In June, NASA delayed the launch of the Psyche spacecraft due to problems with the flight software and the test equipment. The spacecraft’s flight software controls its orientation and trajectory, as well as its ability to send and receive data back to Earth. The matter could not be resolved in time to allow launch before this year’s launch window closed on October 11.

Instead, NASA assembled an independent review panel to review and assess the issues that caused the delayher or not, the spaceship should still launch. The “continuation/completion review” gave the go-ahead for Psyche’s launch with a similar trajectory to the original, using Mars gravity assist in 2026 to send the spacecraft on its way to the asteroid Psyche.

“During this review [the Psyche team has] has already shown significant progress toward the future launch date,” JPL Director Laurie Leshin said in a statement. “I am confident that the plan is moving forward and excited by the unique and important science this mission will give back.”

With the new launch window, the spacecraft will arrive at Psyche much later than originally planned, entering orbit around the asteroid in August 2029 rather than early 2026. It’s still better late than never for the highly anticipated mission that will explore the metal. rich asteroids after which it is named.

Psyche is an asteroid 226 kilometers wide orbiting the Sun between Mars and Jupiter. Scientists believe Psyche may be the stripped core of a shattered planetesimal, one of the building blocks that come together to form a planet.

The Psyche spacecraft will orbit its target to map it using a multispectral imager, a gamma-ray and neutron spectrometer, a magnetometer and a radio instrument. according to NASA. By studying the asteroid Psyche, scientists can learn more about the interior of terrestrial planets like Earth.

While the Psyche mission got a second chance to launch into space, NASA is still trying to figure out what to do with it Janus Mission, which was supposed to piggyback with Psyche during its original launch window. Janus is one of three planned missions under NASA’s Small Innovative Missions for Planetary Exploration (SIMPLEx-2) program and is designed to study two separate binary asteroid systems.

“NASA continues to evaluate options for its Janus mission,” the space agency wrote. But for now, the space agency reckons with the launch of Psyche and the opportunity to explore the unique space rock. “The lessons learned from Psyche will be implemented across our mission portfolio,” Thomas Zurbuchen, deputy administrator of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate, said in a statement. “I’m excited about the scientific insights Psyche will provide during his lifetime and his promise to contribute to our understanding of the core of our own planet.”

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