NASA’s Psyche mission is back on track for launch and is now slated for a potential launch date of October 2023, according to a NASA statement from October 2022. This comes after it missed the originally planned launch date between August and October 2022 and was subject to an independent review board, the results of which were announced in November 2022.
“I appreciate the hard work of the independent review board and the JPL-led team for the mission’s success,” said Dr. Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington, in the October 2022 statement. Lessons learned from Psyche will be applied across our mission portfolio. I am excited about the scientific insights Psyche will provide over its lifetime and its promise to advance our understanding of our own planet’s core.”
The launch delay came after the spacecraft’s flight software and test equipment were not delivered to NASA on time, meaning there was not enough time to complete testing to meet the mission’s 2022 launch date. With this new launch date Psyche is scheduled to achieve a gravity assist on Mars sometime in 2026 and arrive at asteroid 16 Psyche in August 2029.
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“The entire team and I are thrilled with the confirmation of the new launch,” Dr. Lindy Elkins-Tanton, principal investigator of the Psyche mission, recently told Universe Today via email. “The date slip was critical to the success of the mission and the review process really helped us replan in a productive way. And it’s great to be working full steam ahead for the new date.”
The purpose of the Psyche mission will be to study the asteroid 16 Psyche, which is located in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. What makes 16 Psyche so intriguing for scientific study is that it is a metal-rich object and the possible partial core of a shattered planetesimal, which is the first stages of a planet during the formation process. But how does this new launch date for the Psyche mission affect the overall mission, specifically the science aspect?
“The science goals and requirements are unchanged,” Dr. Elkins-Tanton explained to Universe Today via email. “In fact, some of the technical aspects of orbiting the asteroid and getting the data have been improved by being in a slightly different phase of the asteroid’s orbit around the Sun than we would have been with the previous launch date, and the science results are expected to be as as good or better than originally planned.’
After the spacecraft successfully arrives at 16 Psyche in 2029, it will conduct its science operations from four stage orbits, which are orbits performed at ever-decreasing altitudes above the asteroid’s surface. Each of the four stages is designed to collect data on asteroid characteristics (56 days), topography (80 days), gravity science (100 days) and elemental mapping (100 days).
“We are all excited to share this adventure with the world,” Dr. Elkins-Tanton told Universe Today via email. “Make sure you don’t miss our student art (our art interns create dozens of new pieces of art each year) and our free online courses available through the ASU Mission website.”
As always, keep up the science and keep looking up!
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