Launch window slides into 2023 or 2024 for asteroid-probing project
Sadly for NASA’s mission to take samples from the asteroid Psyche, software problems mean the spacecraft is going to miss its 2022 launch window. The US space agency made the announcement on Friday: “Due to the late delivery of the spacecraft’s flight software and testing equipment, NASA does not have sufficient time to complete the testing needed ahead of its remaining launch period this year, which ends on October 11.”
While it appears the software and testbeds are now working, there just isn’t enough time to get everything done before a SpaceX Falcon Heavy sends the spacecraft to study a metallic-rich asteroid of the same name. The plan had been to launch in 2022 and spend three-and-a-half years under solar electric cruise before arriving at the asteroid in 2026 for 21 months in orbit.
