Artykuły o NASA Psyche asteroid mission

[Orionid]

NASA selects two asteroid missions for Discovery program
https://www.forum.kosmonauta.net/index.php?topic=3934.msg141467#msg141467

Psyche mission clears review
by Jeff Foust — June 15, 2019 Updated 9 a.m. Eastern June 17 with NASA cost estimate. [SN]


Psyche is scheduled to launch in August 2022 to travel to the metallic asteroid of the same name, arriving in 2026. Credit: SSL/ASU/P. Rubin/NASA/JPL-Caltech

WASHINGTON — A NASA mission to a metallic asteroid has passed a major review, but questions remain about its ability to remain on budget and schedule.

NASA announced June 11 that the Psyche mission had been cleared to proceed into Phase C of its development, which includes final system design as well as assembly and testing of the spacecraft and its instruments. The mission had completed a preliminary design review earlier this year.
https://spacenews.com/psyche-mission-clears-review/

Falcon Heavy to launch NASA Psyche asteroid mission
by Jeff Foust — February 28, 2020


NASA announced Feb. 28 it will use a Falcon Heavy to launch its Psyche asteroid mission in 2022. Credit: Craig Vander Galien

WASHINGTON — NASA awarded a contract to SpaceX Feb. 28 for the launch of a mission to a large metallic asteroid on the company’s Falcon Heavy rocket.

NASA said that it will use a Falcon Heavy to launch its Psyche mission in July 2022 from Launch Complex 39A at the Kennedy Space Center. The contract is valued at $117 million, which includes the launch itself and other mission-related costs.

Psyche is one of two missions NASA selected in January 2017 for its Discovery program of relatively low-cost planetary science missions. Psyche will use a Mars flyby in 2023 to arrive at its destination, an asteroid also called Psyche, in January 2026. The spacecraft will go into orbit around the asteroid, one of the largest in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.

The asteroid is primarily made of iron and nickel, and could be the remnant of a core of a protoplanet that attempted to form there before high-speed collisions with other planetesimals broke it apart. Planetary scientists believe that studies of the asteroid Psyche could help them better understand the formation of the solar system.

The Psyche mission is led by Arizona State University, with Maxar the prime contractor for the spacecraft. The launch will also carry two smallsat secondary payloads: Escape and Plasma Acceleration and Dynamics Explorers (EscaPADE), which will study the Martian atmosphere, and Janus, which will study binary asteroids.

The other mission selected for the Discovery program in 2017, Lucy, will visit Trojan asteroids in the same orbit around the sun as Jupiter. NASA awarded a launch contract to United Launch Alliance in January 2019 for the launch of that mission on an Atlas 5 in October 2021.

SpaceX subsequently filed a protest with the Government Accountability Office over that award, arguing that it could have launched the mission for significantly less than the $148.3 million value of the ULA contract. ULA argued that it provided schedule assurance needed for a mission that must launch in a 20-day window. SpaceX dropped the protest in April 2019, nearly two months after it was filed.

Since them, though, SpaceX has enjoyed success winning NASA launch contracts. Within a week of dropping the GAO protest, SpaceX won a contract for the launch of the Double Asteroid Redirect Test (DART) spacecraft on a Falcon 9. That mission, launching in June 2021, will send a spacecraft to the near Earth asteroid Didymos, deliberately colliding with a small moon orbiting that asteroid to test deflection techniques for planetary defense.

In July 2019, NASA won a contract for the launch of NASA’s Imaging X-Ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) astrophysics mission, scheduled for launch on a Falcon 9 in April 2021. That spacecraft was baselined for launch on a much smaller Pegasus rocket from Northrop Grumman, but SpaceX won the contract at a price lower than previous Pegasus missions.

NASA awarded SpaceX a contract Feb. 4 for the launch of its Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem (PACE) Earth science mission on a Falcon 9 in December 2022. NASA awarded that contract despite, less than a week later, stating in its fiscal year 2021 budget proposal it would seek to cancel the mission. PACE had been proposed for cancellation in the previous three years’ budget requests, and each time Congress rejected the cancellation and funded the mission.

Psyche is NASA’s first mission to use SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket as the primary customer, although some NASA payloads flew on the Falcon Heavy STP-2 mission for the Defense Department’s Space Test Program in June 2019. SpaceX’s current manifest for the heavy-lift rocket includes two classified missions for the U.S. Air Force in late 2020 and early 2021 and a ViaSat-3 broadband communications satellite for Viasat in mid-2021.

Source: https://spacenews.com/falcon-heavy-to-launch-nasa-psyche-asteroid-mission/

[Orionid]

Psyche asteroid explorer arrives at Kennedy Space Center for launch preps
May 5, 2022 Stephen Clark [SFN]


NASA’s Psyche spacecraft inside the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Credit: NASA/Isaac Watson

A U.S. military cargo plane delivered NASA’s Psyche spacecraft from California to the Kennedy Space Center last week, starting a three-month campaign to ready the asteroid explorer for liftoff on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket in August.

The launch preparations at Kennedy will include loading of more than a ton of xenon gas into the Psyche spacecraft, followed by encapsulation of the probe inside SpaceX’s payload fairing before rolling out to pad 39A for integration with a Falcon Heavy launcher.
https://spaceflightnow.com/2022/05/05/psyche-asteroid-explorer-arrives-at-kennedy-space-center-for-final-launch-preps/

Launch of NASA’s Psyche asteroid mission delayed to late September
May 23, 2022 Stephen Clark [SFN]


Pam Melroy, NASA’s deputy administrator, visits the Psyche spacecraft undergoing processing May 19 at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Credit: NASA-JPL/Wes Kuykendall

The launch of NASA’s Psyche asteroid mission, which was set for Aug. 1 on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket, has been delayed to no earlier than Sept. 20 after ground teams discovered an issue during software testing on the spacecraft, officials said Monday.

The robotic asteroid explorer arrived at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California on April 29 aboard a U.S. military cargo plane. Then ground teams moved the spacecraft, packed inside a climate-controlled shipping container, to a clean room at the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility.
https://spaceflightnow.com/2022/05/23/launch-of-nasas-psyche-asteroid-mission-delayed-to-late-september/

Software problem delays NASA Psyche launch
by Jeff Foust — May 24, 2022 [SN]


NASA's Psyche spacecraft, which recently arrived at the Kennedy Space Center to begin launch preparations, will now launch no earlier than Sept. 20, a delay of more than a month and a half. Credit: NASA/Isaac Watson

LONG BEACH, Calif. — The launch of a NASA mission to the asteroid Psyche has been delayed at least a month and a half because of a problem with the spacecraft’s software, the agency confirmed May 23.
https://spacenews.com/software-problem-delays-nasa-psyche-launch/

Psyche launch delay forcing revamp of rideshare mission
by Jeff Foust — June 9, 2022 [SN]


The twin Janus spacecraft were originally designed to fly by two different binary asteroids, but a delay in the launch of the Psyche mission is forcing scientists to look for new targets. Credit: Lockheed Martin

WASHINGTON — A delay in the launch of NASA’s Psyche asteroid mission is forcing another asteroid mission hitching a ride to revise its plans.

Janus, a NASA smallsat mission selected in 2019, will launch two identical spacecraft as secondary payloads on the Falcon Heavy rocket whose primary payload is Psyche. After a series of Earth flybys, each Janus spacecraft was to fly by different binary asteroids, designated 1996 FG3 and 1991 VH.
https://spacenews.com/psyche-launch-delay-forcing-revamp-of-rideshare-mission/

Software testing problem delays Psyche launch
by Jeff Foust — June 24, 2022 [SN]


NASA announced June 24 there won't be enough time to test the software on the Psyche spacecraft because its launch window closes in October, delaying the mission’s launch to at least mid-2023. Credit: SSL/ASU/P. Rubin/NASA/JPL-Caltech

WASHINGTON — NASA’s Psyche asteroid mission will not launch this year as previously planned after the agency concluded there was not enough time to complete testing of the spacecraft’s software before its launch window closes.

In a briefing held June 24 on just a few hours’ notice, agency officials said the mission did not have enough time to test guidance, navigation and control (GNC) software on the spacecraft before its launch window closes Oct. 11. NASA had already delayed the launch from Aug. 1 because of the software testing issue.
https://spacenews.com/software-testing-problem-delays-psyche-launch/

After software delays, NASA says Psyche asteroid mission won’t launch this year
June 27, 2022 Stephen Clark [SFN]


Artist’s illustration of the Psyche spacecraft at its destination. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

NASA’s billion-dollar Psyche asteroid mission will not launch this year, officials confirmed Friday, after delays in completing software verification testing for the spacecraft’s guidance, navigation and control system.

Mission officials said the next opportunity to launch the mission to explore Psyche, a metal-rich asteroid, is in July 2023. An independent review panel will evaluate the next steps for the project before NASA leadership decides when, or if, the Psyche mission should continue toward launch.
https://spaceflightnow.com/2022/06/27/after-software-delays-nasa-gives-up-on-launching-psyche-asteroid-mission-this-year/

Psyche launch rescheduled for October 2023
Jeff Foust October 29, 2022 [SN]


Psyche is scheduled to launch in August 2022 to travel to the metallic asteroid of the same name, arriving in 2026. Credit: SSL/ASU/P. Rubin/NASA/JPL-Caltech

WASHINGTON — A NASA mission to an asteroid that missed its launch window this fall because of technical issues has been rescheduled for launch next October.

NASA announced Oct. 28 that Psyche, a Discovery-class mission to the metallic main belt asteroid of the same name, will launch on a Falcon Heavy during a launch window that opens Oct. 10, 2023. The spacecraft will arrive at the asteroid in August 2029.
https://spacenews.com/psyche-launch-rescheduled-for-october-2023/

Psyche review finds institutional problems at JPL
Jeff Foust November 5, 2022 [SN]


The Jet Propulsion Laboratory is the only NASA field center operated as an FFRDC, run by Caltech for the agency. Credit: JPL

WASHINGTON — An independent review of problems that delayed the launch of NASA’s Psyche asteroid mission uncovered institutional issues at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory that led the agency to delay the launch of another mission being developed there.

NASA released Nov. 4 the report by an independent review board commissioned by NASA after the Psyche mission missed its launch window earlier this year. The mission, to the metallic main belt asteroid of the same name, suffered delays in development and testing of its flight software, and is now scheduled for launch in October 2023.
https://spacenews.com/psyche-review-finds-institutional-problems-at-jpl/

JPL making progress on Psyche independent review recommendations
Jeff Foust March 7, 2023 [SN]


The Jet Propulsion Laboratory is the only NASA field center operated as an FFRDC, run by Caltech for the agency. Credit: JPL

WASHINGTON — NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory is making progress addressing institutional problems that led to the delay of an asteroid mission, the lab’s director says.

Speaking at a meeting last week of the Mars Exploration Program Analysis Group (MEPAG), Laurie Leshin, who took over as director of JPL last May, said she is seeing progress in efforts to implement several recommendations made by an independent panel last fall that examined the delay in the Psyche mission.
https://spacenews.com/jpl-making-progress-on-psyche-independent-review-recommendations/

NASA Psyche mission back on track for October launch
Jeff Foust June 6, 2023 [SN]


The Psyche mission is now scheduled for launch in October 2023 after software testing problems and JPL institutional issues delayed its 2022 launch. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU

WASHINGTON — An independent review has concluded NASA’s Psyche asteroid mission is back on track for a launch this October after software problems, exacerbated by institutional issues at JPL, delayed its launch last year.
https://spacenews.com/nasa-psyche-mission-back-on-track-for-october-launch/

Psyche asteroid mission set for October launch
Jeff Foust September 6, 2023 [SN]


NASA’s Psyche spacecraft is undergoing final preparations for a launch as soon as Oct. 5 to the main belt asteroid of the same name. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

WASHINGTON — A NASA mission to a large metallic asteroid is on track to launch in October after more than a year of delays, but the mission faces a potential challenge to those plans beyond the agency’s control.

At a Sept. 6 briefing, project officials said preparations were going well for the launch of the Psyche mission to the asteroid of the same name. The mission is scheduled to launch on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket from the Kennedy Space Center in a launch period that opens Oct. 5 and runs through Oct. 25.
https://spacenews.com/psyche-asteroid-mission-set-for-october-launch/

NASA delays Psyche launch a week
Jeff Foust September 28, 2023 [SN]


The Psyche spacecraft is installed on its payload adapter as part of preparations for a launch now scheduled for Oct. 12. Credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett

WASHINGTON — NASA has postponed the launch of the asteroid mission Psyche a week to update the configuration of thrusters on the spacecraft.

NASA announced late Sept. 28 that it has rescheduled the launch of the spacecraft, previously planned for Oct. 5, for Oct. 12. A Falcon Heavy rocket will have an instantaneous launch window at 10:16 a.m. Eastern that day from Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Complex 39A.
https://spacenews.com/nasa-delays-psyche-launch-a-week/

Launch of NASA’s Psyche asteroid mission slips a week due to spacecraft issue
September 28, 2023 Spaceflight Now
Updated (7:35 p.m. EDT (2335 UTC): Adding NASA confirmation of delay.


Artist’s illustration of the Psyche spacecraft and its destination. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

The launch of NASA’s Psyche asteroid mission is being delayed a week due to allow “verifications” of parameters used by the spacecraft’s thrusters, the space agency confirmed Thursday. Liftoff on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket is now scheduled for no earlier than Oct. 12.
https://spaceflightnow.com/2023/09/28/launch-of-nasas-psyche-asteroid-mission-slips-a-week-due-to-spacecraft-issue/

Simple settings tweak should save Psyche asteroid mission from overheating thrusters
October 2, 2023 Steven Young [SFN]


An artist’s conception of the Psyche spacecraft orbiting near the surface of the Psyche asteroid. Image: Maxar/ASU/Peter Rubin.

NASA’s Psyche spacecraft, now scheduled for launch on Oct. 12, will dial down the power of its maneuvering system after engineers discovered its thrusters were in danger of overheating during its eight-year expedition to explore a metallic asteroid.
https://spaceflightnow.com/2023/10/02/simple-settings-tweak-should-save-psyche-asteroid-mission-from-overheating-thrusters/

Weather delays launch of NASA’s billion-dollar Psyche mission to Friday
October 11, 2023 Will Robinson-Smith [SFN]
Update 6:35 p.m. EDT: NASA delays launch to Friday due to weather.


The eighth Falcon Heavy to fly was raised to launch configuration overnight on Wednesday as it prepares to send the Psyche spacecraft off to the asteroid of the same name as early as Thursday, Oct. 12, 2023. Image: Adam Bernstein

Original story:

With the exception of the weather, NASA and SpaceX said at a prelaunch news conference Wednesday everything was ready for the launch the Psyche mission at 10:16 a.m. EDT (1416 UTC) on Thursday, Oct. 12. on a seven-year mission to an asteroid of the same name.
https://spaceflightnow.com/2023/10/11/weather-remains-watch-item-for-launching-nasas-billion-dollar-mission-to-asteroid-psyche/

Psyche marks start of NASA use of Falcon Heavy
Jeff Foust October 13, 2023 [SN]


Psyche marks the start of NASA's use of SpaceX's Falcon Heavy rocket, which will launch several other NASA missions in the next few years. Credit: NASA/Aubrey Gemignani

(...) The launch will be the eighth flight of the Falcon Heavy but the first devoted to NASA. Previous launches, after the demonstration launch of the rocket in February 2018, were for commercial and U.S. military customers.

At a pre-launch briefing Oct. 11, Julianna Scheiman, director of civil satellite missions at SpaceX, noted the launch will be the first company mission to fly under the NASA Launch Service Program’s Category 3, used for high-value missions that seek to minimize launch risk. That requires several successful launches and extensive agency reviews. “That means Falcon Heavy has been through the wringer,” she said. (...)
https://spacenews.com/psyche-marks-start-of-nasa-use-of-falcon-heavy/

NASA launches Psyche mission to metal world
Jeff Foust October 13, 2023 [SN]
Updated 12:45 p.m. Eastern about spacecraft establishing communications after launch.


A SpaceX Falcon Heavy lifts off Oct. 13 carrying NASA's Psyche spacecraft. Credit: Jordan Sirokie

(...) While the problems with both Psyche and JPL have been corrected, they affected several NASA science missions. The 14-month launch delay pushed back the spacecraft’s arrival at the asteroid from 2026 to August 2029. The mission’s cost also increased 20% from $1 billion to $1.2 billion.

Psyche’s delay also affected Janus, an asteroid smallsat mission that was to fly as a secondary payload on the launch. The delay meant that Janus could not fly its original mission to go by two pairs of binary asteroids, and the mission could not find suitable alternative targets with its revised trajectory. NASA announced in July it was canceling Janus and putting the completed spacecraft in storage. (...)
https://spacenews.com/nasa-launches-psyche-mission-to-metal-world/

Falcon Heavy Successfully Launches NASA’s Psyche, Looks to Record-Setting Year-End
by Ben Evans October 13, 2023 [AS]


NASA’s Psyche spacecraft, pictured during pre-flight processing. Photo Credit: NASA

(...) It will spend at least 21 months circling the 140-mile-wide (220-kilometer) Psyche, which is predominantly composed of iron and nickel and constitutes one of the Solar System’s relatively few metal-rich asteroids. The 5,750-pound (2,600-kilogram) spacecraft will adopt a group of orbital “regimes” around Psyche of steadily decreasing altitudes, from “Orbit A” at 430 miles (700 kilometers) to “Orbit D” at just 53 miles (85 kilometers).

Those orbits will facilitate a range of observations of Psyche, including identification of magnetic-field signatures, preliminary topographical mapping, gravity-field measurements and analysis of surface chemical constituents. Long hypothesized to be the exposed core of a protoplanet—a theory now largely ruled out—Psyche is known from ground-based observations to possess a pair of enormous craters, some 56 miles (90 kilometers) wide, as well as a group of impact features near its south pole. (...)
https://www.americaspace.com/2023/10/13/falcon-heavy-successfully-launches-nasas-psyche-looks-to-record-setting-year-end/

Falcon Heavy launches NASA’s Psyche asteroid probe
October 13, 2023 William Harwood [SFN]


Falcon Heavy climbs away from Kennedy Space Center, carrying NASA’s Psyche spacecraft. Image: Michael Cain/Spaceflight Now.

Getting off to a ground-shaking start, NASA’s $1.2 billion Psyche asteroid probe roared into space atop a Falcon Heavy rocket Friday, setting off on a 2.2-billion-mile voyage to a rare, metal-rich asteroid that may hold clues about how the cores of rocky planets like Earth first formed. (...)

Unlike chemical propulsion rocket engines, which consume propellant in fuel-gulping bursts of high power, Hall effect thrusters produce vastly less thrust, roughly equivalent to the weight of three quarters. But they can run around the clock, slowly but surely building up speed while getting about 10 million miles per gallon.

After three to four months of testing and checkout, Psyche will loop out toward Mars, flying past the red planet in May 2026 at an altitude between 1,900 and 2,700 miles for a gravity assist flyby that will boost the spacecraft’s velocity from about 45,600 mph relative to the sun to about 52,22 mph.

Along the way to Mars, engineers will put a hitchhiker payload through its paces: the Deep Space Optical Communications, or DSOC, experiment. An infrared laser and telescope assembly attached to the side of the Psyche spacecraft will attempt to send data back to Earth at vastly higher rates than possible with traditional radio signals. (...)
https://spaceflightnow.com/2023/10/13/falcon-heavy-launches-nasas-psyche-asteroid-probe/