The asteroid Psyche 16 is being visited by NASA. A 15-member review board has been set up by the administration to look into the mission's failure to meet the launch date. The board will present their findings to NASA and JPL in the fall.
Astronomers know that Psyche is an M type asteroid. Psyche is the largest M- type asteroid. Psyche has a diameter of 220 km and holds 1% of the mass in the main asteroid belt.
It is an intriguing target because it is an M type asteroid. M type asteroids have higher concentrations of metals than other type asteroids. Sometimes Psyche is referred to as the "Gold Mine Asteroid" or the "Quadrillion Dollar Asteroid" because of the concentration of metals. Psyche is also an attractive scientific target.
In August of 2022, the Psyche mission was scheduled to launch on a SpaceXFalcon Heavy and arrive at Psyche. NASA delayed the mission. NASA said that the equipment was late. There wasn't time to test everything before the launch
The mission is going to be reviewed. The mission isn't being reviewed because of it's value To understand what caused the delays and how to avoid them in the future, the review is needed.
Factors of workforce environment, culture, communication, schedule, and both technical and programmatic risks will be studied. NASA and JPL will be provided with actionable information to reduce the risk for other missions as a result of the study's results.
That is a general statement. NASA released a more detailed statement after the first meeting of the review board.
There is a focus on understanding technical issues that led to the delay, how the risk of delay was or was not understood and communicated within the project, as well as to those charged with oversight of the mission at JPL in a timely manner.
Space missions have delays. Launching schedules can be changed for a variety of reasons. The James Webb Space Telescope was delayed many times before it was finally launched. Being delayed this close to launch is not normal. The spaceship was delivered to the Kennedy Space Center.
The language in NASA's statements drill down deeper into the problem.
NASA says to study any and all issues that contributed to the launch delay, including the lack of visibility of the problems to management, standing review board, technical authorities, etc. The problems that caused the delay were not visible to management. Some managers were surprised by the unpreparedness. NASA is worried about that They need to understand how it happened to prevent it from happening again.
When the problems began, why there was a lack of visibility, and if there were missed opportunities to take action earlier to possibly prevent the launch delay.
NASA wants to identify all the other issues that may have caused the problem and how they can fix them. Specific corrective actions that they can take to prevent a reoccurrence like this are what they want to identify.
It doesn't appear that a cancellation is in the future. At the launch facility, the craft is sitting. There isn't any certainty.
The review board's findings will be presented to NASA and JPL in late September.
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