discovery program
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NASA Fixes Psyche Spacecraft’s Thruster Issue Just in Time for Launch
NASA’s mission to a metal-rich asteroid is back on track after a minor setback. Psyche is now all set to launch on October 12. A week before the original scheduled launch, engineers discovered an issue with the Psyche spacecraft’s thrusters that could have caused it to overheat during its eight-year mission. As a result, NASA…
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Software Glitch Pushes Back NASA’s Psyche Mission Launch by at Least a Year
NASA announced late last week that the long-awaited mission to Psyche, a nearby metal-rich asteroid, will not launch this year. The next possible launch windows for the spacecraft are in 2023 and 2024, meaning that NASA won’t arrive at the asteroid until 2029 at the earliest.
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NASA’s Latest Plan to Fix Trojan Spacecraft’s Unlatched Solar Array Shows Signs of Promise
For nearly eight months, Lucy has been sailing its way to Jupiter’s Trojan asteroids while NASA engineers on the ground have been working to fix a pesky solar array that refuses to unfurl. The good news is that there now appears to be some progress.
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See Postcards From NASA’s Lucy Spacecraft as It Journeys to Jupiter’s Trojan Asteroids
Travelling through space can get lonely. NASA’s Lucy spacecraft is currently on a six-year journey to Jupiter, travelling through the sparse interplanetary medium since launching in October 2021. Luckily for Lucy, the views have been spectacular.