NASA’s efforts to get the Psyche mission back on track have paid off. This mission should leave in the fall of 2023. Direction an asteroid rich in metals, a “world of metal”.
This is very good news that came from NASA on June 5, 2023. The Psyché mission, which had encountered some setbacks last year, is once again well on its way. The American space agency, in its update, reveals that the mission ” remarkable progress “. Preparations for the launch are, moreover, on the right track “.
Barring a dramatic change, take-off will take place in October 2023. “ We know the job is not done “, tempered Nicola Fox, administrator associated with the direction of the scientific mission of NASA. However, she appreciated the “positive assessment” given by the independent review panel on efforts to redress the bar.
A mission to the asteroid Psyche
The Psyche mission takes the name of the asteroid — (16) Psyche — that a probe is to visit at the end of the decade. The asteroid is of interest to astronomers because its structure is obviously rich in metals. We are counting on a composition mixing iron and nickel, but other elements could also be found there. That’s why (16) Psyche earned the nickname metal world.
But, in June 2022, boom. The American space agency renounces a departure from the mission for the current year. A commission was then set up during the summer and delivered its first conclusions in November. Many problems had then been detected on the conduct of the project, the workload, the verification procedures or the quality of certain software.
The coronavirus pandemic, which produced its strongest effects in 2020 and 2021, also contributed to the launch delay. Other factors were identified, including labor issues for the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). Difficulties that have hampered the proper conduct of the spacecraft tests, in order to carry them out correctly.
Faults now corrected or in the process of being. ” The steps taken by NASA, JPL and Caltech to get the Psyche mission back on track […] were remarkable “, develops the American space agency, citing a report of May 30. Lessons that will also be used for other missions, such as Europa Clipper and Mars Sample Return.
It now remains to be seen if the bumps encountered on the road to Psyche are well behind the American space agency and that there will be no further inconvenience later. During its summer stage update in 2022, NASA indicated that it had two shooting windows available: one in 2023 and the other in 2024. A shift to the second date is not formally ruled out.
Psyche must go into space thanks to a Falcon Heavy rocket from SpaceX. If the mission leaves this fall, the probe will arrive near the asteroid in August 2029. It will then orbit around it for 26 months, in order to understand the formation of telluric planets, what their insides contain and grasp the particularities of this metal world. .
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