NASA Decides Not To Launch Two Already-Built Asteroid Probes 19
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: Two small spacecraft should have now been cruising through the Solar System on the way to study unexplored asteroids, but after several years of development and nearly $50 million in expenditures, NASA announced Tuesday the probes will remain locked inside a Lockheed Martin factory in Colorado. That's because the mission, called Janus, was supposed to launch last year as a piggyback payload on the same rocket with NASA's much larger Psyche spacecraft, which will fly to a 140-mile-wide (225-kilometer) metal-rich asteroid -- also named Psyche -- for more than two years of close-up observations. Problems with software testing on the Psyche spacecraft prompted NASA managers to delay the launch by more than a year. An independent review board set up to analyze the reasons for the Psyche launch delay identified issues with the spacecraft's software and weaknesses in the plan to test the software before Psyche's launch. Digging deeper, the review panel determined that NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which manages the Psyche mission, was encumbered by staffing and workforce problems exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Psyche is now back on track for liftoff in October on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket, but Janus won't be aboard.
Janus was designed to fly to two binary asteroids -- consisting of two bodies near one another -- that orbit the Sun closer to Earth than the metallic asteroid Psyche. While the Psyche mission can still reach its asteroid destination and accomplish its science mission with a launch this year, the asteroids targeted by Janus will have changed positions in the Solar System by too much since last year. They are no longer accessible to the two Janus spacecraft without flying too far from the Sun for their solar arrays to generate sufficient power. When it became clear the two Janus target asteroids were no longer reachable, scientists on the Janus team and NASA management agreed last year to remove the twin spacecraft from the Psyche launch. Scientists considered other uses for the suitcase-size Janus spacecraft, which were already built and were weeks away from shipment to Florida to begin final launch preparations when NASA decided to delay the launch of Psyche.
One of the ideas to repurpose the Janus spacecraft was to send the probes to fly by asteroid Apophis, a space rock bigger than the Empire State Building that will encroach within 20,000 miles (32,000 kilometers) from our planet's surface in 2029. For a time soon after its discovery in 2004, scientists said there was a small chance Apophis could impact Earth in 2029 or later this century, but astronomers have now ruled out any risk of a collision for the next 100-plus years. In the end, Janus fell victim to the delay of the Psyche mission and tight budget constraints at NASA. The agency said Tuesday it has directed the Janus team to "prepare the spacecraft for long-term storage."
Janus was designed to fly to two binary asteroids -- consisting of two bodies near one another -- that orbit the Sun closer to Earth than the metallic asteroid Psyche. While the Psyche mission can still reach its asteroid destination and accomplish its science mission with a launch this year, the asteroids targeted by Janus will have changed positions in the Solar System by too much since last year. They are no longer accessible to the two Janus spacecraft without flying too far from the Sun for their solar arrays to generate sufficient power. When it became clear the two Janus target asteroids were no longer reachable, scientists on the Janus team and NASA management agreed last year to remove the twin spacecraft from the Psyche launch. Scientists considered other uses for the suitcase-size Janus spacecraft, which were already built and were weeks away from shipment to Florida to begin final launch preparations when NASA decided to delay the launch of Psyche.
One of the ideas to repurpose the Janus spacecraft was to send the probes to fly by asteroid Apophis, a space rock bigger than the Empire State Building that will encroach within 20,000 miles (32,000 kilometers) from our planet's surface in 2029. For a time soon after its discovery in 2004, scientists said there was a small chance Apophis could impact Earth in 2029 or later this century, but astronomers have now ruled out any risk of a collision for the next 100-plus years. In the end, Janus fell victim to the delay of the Psyche mission and tight budget constraints at NASA. The agency said Tuesday it has directed the Janus team to "prepare the spacecraft for long-term storage."
Top . . . men. (Score:2)
Plan for long-term storage of Janus spacecraft
https://www.bing.com/videos/se... [bing.com]
Hitch a ride on one of Elons rockets (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2, Informative)
Elon's rockets are only capable of launching satellites for Earth orbit currently. They have a bigger rocket for interplanetary mission but it has not successfully flown just yet.
Re:Hitch a ride on one of Elons rockets (Score:5, Informative)
I'm not sure where you get that notion. Just because nearly all SpaceX launches go to LEO or GEO, that doesn't mean that they can't go farther.
These two small satellites were going to have a rideshare with the Psyche mission...on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy. The original Falcon Heavy launch shot a freakin' car out beyond Mars' orbit - well beyond Earth escape velocity. Barely two weeks ago an ordinary Falcon 9 launched the Euclid satellite out to L2. They've also launched several payloads out to the Moon. If you don't need to recover the first stage, SpaceX advertises a Falcon 9 can launch 4 tons to Mars.
In terms of capability, a Falcon 9 could easily get these two Janus probes to their destinations in the asteroid belt. Logistically, however, that would require a rideshare on a launch that was already headed out that way (very rare), or else purchase a dedicated flight (too expensive for this program).
Re: (Score:2)
The Psyche mission itself is interplanetary (or at least leaving Earth orbit), launching on a Falcon Heavy.
The DART mission to an asteroid launched in 2021 on a Falcon 9, as did a Korean lunar mission in 2022.
SpaceX also launched a car toward Mars once.
Re: (Score:3)
Tell me you didn't even bother to read the summary without telling me you didn't bother to read the summary.....
These were a cheap (spacecraft cost wise cheap) ride-share mission sharing the launch with the Psyche mission on a Falcon 9 Heavy (you know - the one Elon makes).
They are not funded to buy their own launch. They spent $50 million on the pair of them. A Falcon 9 launch runs around 65 mil or so I believe. Heavy probably in the 90-100 mil range. They are not going to spend that for this mission.
H
Efficiency (Score:3)
Yeah, it's a much better idea for us to wait for Apophis to hit the Earth where we can study it up close for a lot cheaper. The same way dinosaurs did asteroid research.
Re: (Score:1)
Come out already, you'll feel better about yourself.
How many Romans? (Score:2)
Ambiguity in the English language lacking grammatical features..
Two asteroids forming one orbiting pair?
Or two sets of binary asteroids, making up a total of four asteroids?
Re: (Score:2)
All I see is Janus this, Janus that, Janus will, Janus was, Janus target, Janus team.
Heed the lock (Score:2)
revised title (Score:5, Insightful)
"Delays in Psyche spacecraft launch causes two other probes to lose their launch window". NASA didn't choose this, it was forced by physics.
boomers (Score:2)
The smart people at NASA have all retired by now. Oh, yeah, that's right, they were boomers.
Finally, scientific proof about the mind's gender. (Score:2)
Janus was designed to fly to two binary asteroids -- consisting of two bodies near one another -- that orbit the Sun closer to Earth than the metallic asteroid Psyche.
Well there you have it folks -- NASA astrophysicists have established that the psyche is non-binary!
They got Batgirled! (Score:2)
Thank you, I'll be here all week.