posted 01-06-2017 09:19 PM               

This thread is intended for comments and questions regarding the Psyche mission and the updates published under the topic: NASA's Psyche mission to giant metal asteroid.

Psyche will explore a giant metal asteroid known as 16 Psyche, about three times farther away from the sun than is the Earth. The mission is targeted to launch in October 2023, arriving at the asteroid in 2030, following an Earth gravity assist spacecraft maneuver in 2024 and a Mars flyby in 2025.

The mission will improve our understanding of how planets and other bodies separated into their layers early in their histories.

posted 05-24-2017 01:30 PM               

Psyche, NASA's Discovery Mission to a unique metal asteroid, has been moved up one year with launch in the summer of 2022, and with a planned arrival at the main belt asteroid in 2026 — four years earlier than the original timeline.

posted 02-29-2020 09:14 AM            

On the other hand, Psyche is not 100% metal, so if there is rocky material on the surface that might crater just like a wholly rocky world.

posted 07-08-2020 10:55 AM               

If it becomes politically unacceptable to subsist on Chinese REM we can subsidize REM in the USA at far less cost than creating a spacefaring REM mining sector.

posted 06-24-2022 01:13 PM               

The mission's 2022 launch period, which ran from Aug. 1 through Oct. 11, would have allowed the spacecraft to arrive at the asteroid Psyche in 2026. There are possible launch periods in both 2023 and 2024, but the relative orbital positions of Psyche and Earth mean the spacecraft would not arrive at the asteroid until 2029 and 2030, respectively. The exact dates of these potential launch periods are yet to be determined.

posted 09-28-2023 08:15 PM               

Our first launch attempt has moved out by one week to Thursday, October 12. This is giving our team time to adjust and verify a change in parameter of Psyche's cold gas thrusters, which are used to orient the spacecraft as soon as right after launch.

It's so important that we get this right. These thrusters aren't the main propulsion system, but they matter, especially right after launch, and we want to make sure we are using them in a very robust way when they are needed. We are confident the team is on track to mitigate this concern, and we look forward to our launch in just two weeks!

posted 09-30-2023 10:09 AM               

Assuming that a compromise is not reached by the deadline, a partial government shutdown would affect NASA and other government agencies. I cannot speak directly to how the launch plans will be handled, but here is an article from 2018 that describes functions during the third partial shutdown of 2018.

I say "partial shutdown" because the compromise discussions going on in Congress are, as always, over how much deficit spending will be authorized for discretionary government programs (those that are not required by law to be funded). There is a steady stream of tax revenue flowing into the U.S. Treasury which will fund non-discretionary programs (those required by law like Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, some income security programs, federal student loan programs, and some others). Since our government funds much of its discretionary spending (things like the US military, NASA, Department of Education, national parks, etc) by borrowing money, the arguments are over how much money to borrow and what those borrowed funds may be spent on.

Here is a good chart (CBO data) that lays this all out for the 2022 fiscal year. The short answer is, in 2022 the U.S. took in $4.9T and spent $6.3T. Non-discretionary spending (Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, etc plus interest on the national debt) for 2022 was $4.575T, so in order for the U.S. government to avoid borrowing money, it would have had to spend a total of $325B on all discretionary spending (including NASA, defense, transportation, veterans benefits, health, education, international affairs, and a host of other programs). [Note: Defense alone is in the $850-900B range.] It is highly likely that, when the reports are released for 2023, the increase in interest on the debt will mean that there is no revenue remaining to pay for any discretionary spending program so all of that spending will be borrowed money.

posted 09-30-2023 11:31 AM               

What might not be able to be supported is press and public access to view the launch on federal property, as well as NASA TV coverage of the launch (at least as a hosted broadcast).

posted 10-13-2023 07:59 AM               

Watch the Psyche spacecraft launch from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket. NASA and SpaceX are targeting launch at 10:19 a.m. EDT (1419 UTC) Friday, Oct. 13.