Psyche launch delay forcing revamp of rideshare mission
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.
However, the mission’s principal investigator said June 8 that mission plan is no longer possible. Speaking at a meeting of NASA’s Small Bodies Assessment Group (SBAG), Dan Scheeres of the University of Colorado noted that mission plan assumed Psyche launched in August of this year as previously planned. NASA announced May 23 that the mission’s launch had been delayed to no earlier than Sept. 20 to provide more time for testing the spacecraft’s software.
SpaceNews
Psyche launch delay forcing revamp of rideshare mission
by Jeff Foust — June 9, 2022
Janus
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.
However, the mission’s principal investigator said June 8 that mission plan is no longer possible. Speaking at a meeting of NASA’s Small Bodies Assessment Group (SBAG), Dan Scheeres of the University of Colorado noted that mission plan assumed Psyche launched in August of this year as previously planned. NASA announced May 23 that the mission’s launch had been delayed to no earlier than Sept. 20 to provide more time for testing the spacecraft’s software.
With the revised launch date, he said it’s no longer possible for the spacecraft to perform those Earth flybys with the existing spacecraft design. “Those flybys were essential for setting up our flybys of our target binaries, 1991 VH and 1996 FG3,” he said.
He said it is possible for Janus to reach one of the original binary asteroid targets, 1996 FG3, if the mission launches between Oct. 7 and 10. That would be near the end of the new launch window for Psyche, which closes Oct. 11. In that scenario, the mission would send both spacecraft to 1996 FG3, allowing it to achieve its threshold science goals.
“We have no ability to influence the launch dates or the targeting of the launch vehicle, and that arises from our status as a rideshare,” he said.
The mission team is now looking for alternative asteroids that the spacecraft could visit if it can’t fly by either of its original destinations. Scheeres said they have found “multiple asteroids” the spacecraft could visit, depending on the day the mission launches. He did not disclose which ones are under consideration, but said some violate current mission constraints such as flyby speed or communications data rate. “Many of these constraints can be accommodated, it just takes a little bit more work,” he said.
