NASA Puts Pysche Mission on Hold, Blames Late Delivery of Navigation Software

NASA has already spent $717 million (nearly Rs. 5,600 crore) on Psyche.

NASA Puts Pysche Mission on Hold, Blames Late Delivery of Navigation Software

Photo Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU

Psyche is the latest in NASA's fleet of asteroid-exploring spacecrafts

Highlights
  • NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab was several months late delivering its software
  • It was supposed to launch this September or October
  • There are still at least two launch opportunities next year
Advertisement

NASA put an asteroid mission on hold on Friday, blaming the late delivery of its own navigation software. The Psyche mission to a strange metal asteroid of the same name was supposed to launch this September or October. But the agency's Jet Propulsion Lab was several months late delivering its software for navigation, guidance and control — a crucial part of any spacecraft. Engineers “just ran out of time” to test it, officials said Friday.

Now, the space agency is going to step back, and an independent review will look at what went wrong, when the spacecraft could launch again and even if it should go ahead, NASA planetary sciences chief Lori Glaze said.

NASA has already spent $717 million (nearly Rs. 5,600 crore) on Psyche and its projected total cost, including the rocket to launch it, is $985 million (nearly Rs. 7,700 crore). The small car-sized spacecraft was originally supposed to arrive at its asteroid in 2026 after a journey of more than 1 billion miles.

Now that the software has been delivered, there's no known problems with the spacecraft except “we just haven't been able to test it,” said Lindy Elkins-Tanton, the Psyche mission lead scientist.

“There is that one challenge we couldn't overcome in time to launch in 2022 with confidence,” she said.

There are still at least two launch opportunities next year and more in 2024 to get to the asteroid that sits in the belt between Mars and Jupiter, said JPL Director Laurie Leshin. That means Psyche wouldn't arrive at its asteroid until 2029 or 2030.

But calculating launch times is complicated because the mission needs the proper sunlight conditions and the asteroid “is spinning like a rotisserie chicken instead of like a top,” Elkins-Tanton said.

Two other small missions were going to ride along on the SpaceX Falcon heavy rocket and NASA is looking at what will happen to those.

Psyche is just the latest in NASA's fleet of asteroid-exploring spacecrafts. Osiris-Rex is on the way back to Earth with rubble from the asteroid [Bennu](https://www.gadgets360.com/science/news/bennu-asteroid-nasa-boulder-body-armour-protection-meteorites-osiris-rex-spacecraft-3078583). Last year, NASA launched the ships Lucy and Dart to explore other space rocks and test if a rocket could knock off course an asteroid heading smack into Earth.


Missed Apple's WWDC 2022? We discuss every major announcement on Orbital, the Gadgets 360 podcast. Orbital is available on Spotify, Gaana, JioSaavn, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music and wherever you get your podcasts.
Affiliate links may be automatically generated - see our ethics statement for details.
Comments

For the latest tech news and reviews, follow Gadgets 360 on X, Facebook, WhatsApp, Threads and Google News. For the latest videos on gadgets and tech, subscribe to our YouTube channel. If you want to know everything about top influencers, follow our in-house Who'sThat360 on Instagram and YouTube.

Further reading: NASA, Psyche Mission, JPL, Asteroid, Bennu
BEST Launches Public Trial for E-Bikes at Key Bus Stops in Mumbai
Chef Vikas Khanna Launches 'Phygital' NFT Collection of His Book
Share on Facebook Gadgets360 Twitter Share Tweet Snapchat Share Reddit Comment google-newsGoogle News
 
 

Advertisement

Follow Us

Advertisement

© Copyright Red Pixels Ventures Limited 2024. All rights reserved.
Trending Products »
Latest Tech News »