NASA's Psyche Mission Set to Launch This Fall to Explore a Mysterious Metal World

NASA has announced that their initial spacecraft to examine a metallic asteroid is scheduled to launch in October.

The Psyche mission, which was planned to launch in 2022, missed its launch window due to the spacecraft's flight software not being ready in time. The launch window opened on August 1 and closed on October 11.

NASA engineers found a problem during testing of software simulators at their Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California. Although the issue was fixed, there was not sufficient time for a complete check and launch in 2022.

An independent review board has commended NASA and the California Institute of Technology for their exceptional efforts to get the postponed mission back on track through both technical and institutional measures, as reported by CNN.

A review board was assembled after it became clear that there were delays in the mission by June 2022. In November, the board presented a report to NASA containing suggestions on solving problems with the mission and addressing institutional issues at JPL that led to the delay.

On Track

The engineers wanted to ensure that the software would work properly when the spacecraft was launched. The software controls the spacecraft's direction and antenna orientation for communication and data transmission. Additionally, it provides trajectory information to the propulsion system.

The report stated that the Covid-19 outbreak was a factor in causing the delay, but the board also found that issues with staffing, management supervision, and communication were significant hindrances.

JPL took action to prepare the Psyche mission for launch by implementing several modifications, such as rearranging its staff, revising the hybrid work policy to encourage more collaboration, and bringing on board skilled team members.

The spacecraft will travel 280 million miles (450 million kilometers) to reach the asteroid called Psyche in August 2029. It will then orbit the asteroid for 26 months.

The asteroid called Psyche is abundant in metals to such an extent that certain researchers speculate that it might be the visible core of a planetesimal or a planet in the process of forming that divided into sections.

Over time, collisions with other objects in space could have caused the outer layers of Psyche to be removed, revealing its metallic core. If Psyche is indeed a core, examining it would be like looking inside the center of a planet like Earth.

This asteroid, which has a potato-like shape, can only be seen as a blurry image through telescopes on Earth and in space. NASA also suggests that Psyche may be made of original material that never melted.

The Psyche mission is a significant milestone in space exploration, as it has the potential to unlock many mysteries about our solar system's formation. Scientists hope to gain insights into how planets formed and evolved over time by studying this unique metallic asteroid.

There are already plans underway for commercial companies like SpaceX and Blue Origin to want access rights should they succeed with their own spacecraft capable enough to reach asteroids outside our planet's orbit - making missions like these all the more important!