SpaceX recently conducted a test to ensure Falcon Heavy is ready for the upcoming launch of NASA's Psyche asteroid mission. The test saw Falcon Heavy breathe fire again.
SpaceX Conducts Static Fire Test on Falcon Heavy
On Saturday, (Sept. 30), SpaceX performed a "static fire" test of a Falcon Heavy at NASA's Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida. The firm announced its recent progress on X (previously Twitter).
The rocket's 27 first-stage engines were briefly lit during the test as the vehicle remained attached to the launch pad. The test assisted in preparing the Falcon Heavy for the Oct. 12 launch of NASA's Psyche asteroid mission from KSC's Pad 39A.
After that liftoff, the psyche will embark on a protracted trip to reach its namesake, a strange metallic object in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.
The mission will arrive at the asteroid Psyche in 2029 if all goes as planned. It will observe it from orbit for at least the next 26 months. Scientists could learn much from the mission's discoveries regarding planet formation and the early solar system. Scientists believe the asteroid Psyche to be the exposed core of a protoplanet, a component whose relatives once joined to become Earth and other rocky planets.
Although SpaceX's enormous new Starship vehicle will overtake the Falcon Heavy once it goes online, the Space Launch System is now the most powerful rocket.
The most recent flight of the Falcon Heavy took place in July. However, Psyche is its first NASA mission.
The mission launched has been delayed due to the spacecraft's thrusters. The new target date is next week, Oct. 12.
"The change allows the NASA team to complete verifications of the parameters used to control the Psyche spacecraft's nitrogen cold gas thrusters," NASA wrote in a blog post. "These thrusters are used to point the vehicle in support of science, power, thermal and other demands, such as spacecraft orientation and momentum management."
Warmer temperature projections for the spacecraft's engines necessitated changing the specifications, according to the crew. It is "essential" for the thrusters to operate within their temperature limits for their long-term health.
Static fire of Falcon Heavy complete. Targeting Thursday, October 12 for launch of @NASA’s Psyche mission from Florida
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) September 30, 2023
Psyche Asteroid Mission
Psyche is a NASA project to investigate the same-named, metal-rich asteroid situated in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. NASA's inaugural mission is to examine an asteroid with more metal than rock or ice.
Asteroid Psyche, which measures 173 miles (280 kilometers) in width at its widest point, may contain all or a portion of the iron-rich core of a planetesimal, a component of a rocky planet. It's also possible that the asteroid is something else.
Additionally, it might be a fragment of an entirely other type of iron-rich body that originated from metal-rich material someplace in the solar system. We might be able to learn more about the origins of Earth's core and the cores of other terrestrial planets from Psyche.
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