Get ready for some exciting news! After a year of delays, NASA’s Psyche spacecraft is finally back on track and set to launch in just four months on a Falcon Heavy rocket. The mission will reach asteroid Psyche in August 2029, where it will orbit for 26 months to gain insights into planetary formation and examine a world made largely of metal. This is a huge deal for the nascent asteroid mining community, which is eager to learn about the potential value of these rare, metallic asteroids.
But it hasn’t been an easy road. Last year, an independent review board found a litany of problems with the mission, including serious issues with the flight software and an incomplete process to verify that software and the vehicle’s systems. The blame was largely placed on management at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California, which had taken on an “unprecedented workload” without the resources needed to complete major projects. And then, of course, there was the COVID-19 pandemic, which hampered hiring and in-person activities needed to complete testing of the spacecraft.
But NASA and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory have been working hard to address these issues. They’ve added experienced team members, reorganized their workforce, and used better metrics to monitor progress toward launch and operational readiness. And it seems to be paying off. The review board recently reconvened and was “extraordinarily impressed” by the actions taken.
Of course, there’s still work to be done. NASA has yet to demonstrate that these staffing and management problems are truly behind them. But with the Psyche mission back on track, the ambitious Europa Clipper mission set to launch next year, and work restarting on the recently paused VERITAS mission to Venus, things are looking up. And that’s something we can all be excited about.
On Tuesday, the European Space Agency and the European industrial team announced the launch of the Next-Generation of ESA’s MarcoPolo-R mission, a robotic mission to explore a metal asteroid, set to launch in the beginning of 2022. Through the mission, ESA will be sending a robotic spacecraft to rendezvous with and grab samples from 162173 Ryugu, the first of its kind in human history.
The asteroid, located between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter, was discovered by Japan’s Hayabusa2 mission back in January 2019. With a composition of mostly metal, Ryugu is one of the most fascinating bodies in the solar system.
In order to send the spacecraft, ESA has assembled a team of professionals ranging from robotic specialists to engineers, scientists, and mission analysts from all corners of the world. Using groundbreaking technology, the MarcoPolo-R mission will be able to map the asteroid’s surface and detect any iron or nickel, both of which are essential materials for human beings both on Earth and in space.
The mission is expected to pave the way for future exploration, and possibly provide scientists with crucial data about the asteroid’s composition and properties. In a press statement, ESA director general Jan Wörner praised the mission, saying that it is, “an important step forward in the exploration of celestial bodies.”
Once the spacecraft returns to Earth in 2024, the samples collected from the asteroid will be used to better understand the solar system’s history and composition. Fans of space exploration have been eagerly awaiting the launch and hoping for success from the groundbreaking mission. After its successful launch, the MarcoPolo-R mission certainly looks set to return metal asteroid missions to the menu for space exploration.
