Two small probes were supposed to be cruising the solar system to probe unexplored asteroids, but after several years of development and spending nearly $50 million, NASA announced Tuesday that the probes will go to Colorado’s Lockheed Corp. He announced that he would remain trapped inside the Martin factory.
That’s because the mission, called Janus, was scheduled to launch last year as a piggyback payload on the same rocket as NASA’s much larger Psyche spacecraft, which will fly to a metal-rich asteroid 140 miles (225 kilometers) wide. After more than two years of close observation, it was named Psyche. A software test problem with the Psyche spacecraft caused NASA administrators to delay the launch for more than a year.
An independent review panel set up to analyze the reasons for Psyche’s launch delay identified problems with the spacecraft’s software and weaknesses in plans to test the software before Psyche’s launch. Digging deeper, the review board determined that NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which manages the Psyche mission, is hampered by staffing and workforce issues exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Psyche is currently back in orbit on SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket for an October launch, but Janas won’t be on board.
Janus was designed to fly to two binary asteroids, two bodies close to each other, orbiting the Sun closer to Earth than the metallic asteroid Psyche. The Psyche program can still reach its asteroid destination and accomplish its science mission with this year’s launch, but the Janus-targeted asteroid will have changed its location in the solar system significantly since last year. The two Janus spacecraft will no longer be accessible unless they fly far enough from the Sun for their solar arrays to generate enough power.
Janus team scientists and NASA management agreed last year to remove the twin probes from the Psyche launch when it became clear that two asteroids targeted by Janus could no longer be reached. Scientists were considering other uses for the suitcase-sized Janus spacecraft, but when NASA decided to postpone the Psyche launch, the spacecraft was already built and ready for final launch. It took several weeks to ship to Florida to start the production.
One idea to repurpose the Janus spacecraft is to have the spacecraft fly near the asteroid Apophis, a space rock larger than the Empire State Building that will intrude within 20,000 miles (32,000 kilometers) of the Earth’s surface in 2029. was to send After its discovery in 2004, scientists said Apophis was unlikely to hit Earth in 2029 or later this century, but astronomers have now ruled out the danger of a collision over the next 100 years or more. It is said that there is
it became a matter of money
Ultimately, Janusz fell victim to Psyche program delays and severe NASA budget constraints. The agency said on Tuesday it had instructed Janus’ team to “prepare the spacecraft for long-term storage.”
“NASA has considered a variety of potential opportunities and requirements for alternative missions using twin-engine spacecraft, with a primary focus on asteroid science,” said Eric Ianson, associate director of NASA’s Planetary Science Division. said in a written response to a question from Ars. “However, due to limited resources over the next few years, we have made the decision not to pursue any of these alternatives at this time.”
NASA’s planetary science budget has been strained by rising costs for several missions already planned, including the multi-billion dollar Mars sample return project, which is still in the early stages of development. The Sample Return mission aims to retrieve Martian rock specimens and bring them back to Earth for analysis. Costs are also rising for the European Clipper mission, which is currently undergoing final assembly for launch next year, said Tom Statler, an associate with NASA’s Planetary Science Division.
The debt ceiling budget pact signed by President Biden and Republicans in Congress last month sets a cap on federal spending that will likely impact NASA’s overall funding levels.
