The Psyche mission has been changed to October next year, according to NASA. Just a few months ago, the agency announced that it would miss its planned launch attempt. The delayed schedule is due to late delivery of key components. The launch window for this year ended.
An internal review was conducted by NASA to determine if the mission could launch next year, as well as an independent review that was commissioned by the agency to look into the failures that led to missing the launch window. The review seems to have determined that the launch is going to happen.
NASA said the flight profile will be the same despite the launch window being different. The asteroid will be reached in August 2029 if the mission moves forward.
The metal asteroid called "Psyche" is located between Mars and Jupiter and will be explored by the mission. Scientists believe that it is the nickel-iron core of an earlier planet, which makes it a rich target for understanding how our own planet came to be. People with asteroid mining ambitions are also interested.
$717 million was spent on the mission as of June. Two more projects were planned to launch with Psyche, one of which was a NASA mission to explore a twin asteroid system. The Psyche will launch with it, but NASA is still looking at options for the next mission.
NASA awarded a $117 million launch contract to the company in February 2020. The agency booked a ride on the most powerful rocket currently in use and which only flew three times in its history. As soon as next week, the fourth could happen.
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