NASA to launch Psyche asteroid probe in October 2023 after delays
The spacecraft is on track to reach its strange metallic destination by 2029.
NASA's Psyche asteroid mission is on track to launch in October 2023, after a one-year delay due to software issues, agency officials said.
"The Psyche project is targeting an October 2023 launch on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket," NASA officials wrote in an update on Wednesday (Jan. 25), echoing timing predictions made late last year. Also on board the powerful Falcon Heavy will be a technology demonstration to assess high-speed communications in space.
The Psyche spacecraft was supposed to launch for a strange metal asteroid, also called Psyche, in the main asteroid belt no later than October 2022. But that plan was derailed by issues with Psyche's flight software. Last summer, NASA postponed the liftoff and initiated a "continuation/termination" review of the mission.
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The review featured a separate independent investigation commissioned by NASA and the agency's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Southern California, which manages the Psyche mission.
By October 2022, the review team had done enough to work for NASA to determine it was feasible to continue the mission for a launch one year hence. But there will be some changes to make the new launch date.
The 2023 launch will bring Psyche to its namesake asteroid in August 2029, rather than early 2026. That's due to a different trajectory, NASA has said. The change meant NASA had to remove from the launch manifest its Janus smallsat mission to study two separate binary asteroid systems, as the new trajectory will not suit Janus' needs.
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NASA's Deep Space Optical Communications will ride with Psyche as planned, since it is integrated into the main asteroid probe. The agency is working through budget implications for the Psyche mission and the rest of its solar system portfolio.
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Elizabeth Howell (she/her), Ph.D., is a staff writer in the spaceflight channel since 2022 covering diversity, education and gaming as well. She was contributing writer for Space.com for 10 years before joining full-time. Elizabeth's reporting includes multiple exclusives with the White House and Office of the Vice-President of the United States, an exclusive conversation with aspiring space tourist (and NSYNC bassist) Lance Bass, speaking several times with the International Space Station, witnessing five human spaceflight launches on two continents, flying parabolic, working inside a spacesuit, and participating in a simulated Mars mission. Her latest book, "Why Am I Taller?", is co-written with astronaut Dave Williams. Elizabeth holds a Ph.D. and M.Sc. in Space Studies from the University of North Dakota, a Bachelor of Journalism from Canada's Carleton University and a Bachelor of History from Canada's Athabasca University. Elizabeth is also a post-secondary instructor in communications and science at several institutions since 2015; her experience includes developing and teaching an astronomy course at Canada's Algonquin College (with Indigenous content as well) to more than 1,000 students since 2020. Elizabeth first got interested in space after watching the movie Apollo 13 in 1996, and still wants to be an astronaut someday. Mastodon: https://qoto.org/@howellspace