NASA Psyche Mission Goes Into Home Stretch Less Than 100 Days Before Launch

NASA's Psyche mission is scheduled for launch on October 5. With less than a hundred days left, the spacecraft is now going through its final preparations for this deployment.

NASA Psyche Mission at Home Stretch

MailOnline reports that technicians and engineers at Florida's Cape Canaveral are working rigorously as the launch's preparations go into the home stretch. They are preparing the craft to sojourn up to 2.5 billion miles all the way to 16 Psyche, situated in the main asteroid belt.

Just recently, they finished an in-depth test campaign of the craft's software. As such, they had the software installed in the craft, clearing the issue that hampered the Psyche mission from launching last August 2022.

Henry Stone, the project manager of the Psyche at the Jet Propulsion Lab of NASA, explains that their team is now counting down the days until the Psyche mission's launch. They have shifted their attention to the completion of the spacecraft's ultimate mechanical closeout and preparations for operations.

Mr. Stone adds that the team is performing several training activities to make sure that they are truly ready.

NASA's Psyche Mission to 16 Psyche Space Rock

Scientists think that the 16 Psyche space rock could be part of a planetesimal, which is an early planet's building block. NASA explains that the metal-rich asteroid could be full of answers regarding the formation and cores of planets. The Jet Propulsion Lab also explains that at its widest point, the rock spans around 173 miles.

Interestingly, Dr. Linda Elins-Tanton, an MIT space scientist, also thinks that the space rock could be worth over $10,000 quadrillion due to the precious metals inside it, if confirmed, MailOnline adds.

The Psyche mission is set to deploy over the SpaceX Falcon Heavy from the Kennedy Space Center's pad 39A. This is set to happen on October 5 at 10:38 ET. Once the craft successfully escapes the gravity of the Earth, it will capitalize on solar electric propulsion for its six-year trip to the 16 Psyche rock.

The craft will also gather data and snapshots that can reveal the rock's history and composition. The scientists hope that the data will cover the rock's gravitational properties, topography, and different distributed elements.

As for the craft's size, engineers have described it as being just a bit bigger compared to a Smart Car. As such, it also has the same estimated height as a regulation basketball hoop. However, if the solar panels powering it are also taken into account, it could be the size of a tennis court.

The Psyche mission has been in the assembly, test, and launch phase since March 2021, MailOnline explains. A team of around 30 technicians and engineers will then wrap up this phase.

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