NASA is preparing to study a metal-rich asteroid, the only one of its kind discovered. The final tests of the Psyche spacecraft, which will investigate, started in March. However, the project, which was expected to take place in early August, faced some problems.
Problem with software controlling Psyche spacecraft
Psyche, a probe designed to explore the metal-rich asteroid 16 Psyche, is among the projects that NASA attaches importance to. So much so that the asteroid is estimated to have 10 quintillion dollars worth of minerals. While the preparations of the project continued meticulously, some problems were detected in the control software.
NASA has currently suspended the mission as they encountered problems in the software that will control the spacecraft, which could put the project at risk. The mission, which will take place in early August, will apparently go live in the last week of September at the earliest. Regarding the subject, NASA gave the following explanations.
A problem prevents verification that the software controlling the spacecraft is working as planned. The team is working to identify and fix the problem. To allow more time for this work, the launch period is being updated no earlier than September 20, 2022, due to range availability.
In our solar system, between Mars and Jupiter, an interesting asteroid named Psyche has a structure composed almost entirely of iron and nickel. The 225 km diameter asteroid is also very important for space mining.
The Psyche spacecraft, which will be launched into space with Falcon Heavy, will travel 2.4 billion kilometers to reach the asteroid. The journey, which is planned to take place this year, will be completed in 2026. It will enter the orbit of the Psyche asteroid and send data to Earth for 21 months.
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