It seems that somewhere between ASU, JPL and NASA… some wires got crossed, on software specs.
And the team is seeing “compatibility issues” with the flight package. This means the October 11, 2022 mission last launch window is certain to come and go, without being “go flight” — on all the re-testing.
And, since the effort is now approaching $1 billion in total costs, the clear NASA directive is to get this right, as no “patch or update” will be feasible, in real time, autonomous space-flight. So so it goes:
…As the mission team at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California began testing the system, a compatibility issue was discovered with the software’s testbed simulators. In May, NASA shifted the mission’s targeted launch date from Aug. 1 to no earlier than Sept. 20 to accommodate the work needed. The issue with the testbeds has been identified and corrected; however, there is not enough time to complete a full checkout of the software for a launch this year.
“Flying to a distant metal-rich asteroid, using Mars for a gravity assist on the way there, takes incredible precision. We must get it right. Hundreds of people have put remarkable effort into Psyche during this pandemic, and the work will continue as the complex flight software is thoroughly tested and assessed,” said JPL Director Laurie Leshin. “The decision to delay the launch wasn’t easy, but it is the right one.”
The mission’s 2022 launch period, which ran from Aug. 1 through Oct. 11, would have allowed the spacecraft to arrive at the asteroid Psyche in 2026. There are possible launch periods in both 2023 and 2024, but the relative orbital positions of Psyche and Earth mean the spacecraft would not arrive at the asteroid until 2029 and 2030, respectively. The exact dates of these potential launch periods are yet to be determined.
“Our amazing team has overcome almost all of the incredible challenges of building a spacecraft during COVID,” said Psyche Principal Investigator Lindy Elkins-Tanton of Arizona State University (ASU), who leads the mission. “We have conquered numerous hardware and software challenges, and we’ve been stopped in the end by this one last problem. We just need a little more time and will get this one licked too. The team is ready to move forward, and I’m so grateful for their excellence.”
Total life-cycle mission costs for Psyche, including the rocket, are $985 million. Of that, $717 million has been spent to date. The estimated costs involved to support each of the full range of available mission options are currently being calculated….
We will see safe, legal abortion coverage enabled — for all US women. . . as it will all be no more than one day’s drive from any of the Luddite states, to the sane ones.
Bodily autonomy is in fact a fundamental right embedded in the 14th Amendment. The states that know this decision is wrong. . . will protect women in the states that seek a return to Plessy v. Ferguson style thinking. Over 70 per cent of Americans support the right to choose. [Why should under 30 per cent of us, even if genuinely held as a religious view. . . dictate what the other 70+ may do with their own bodies?]
Count on it. Smile. . . . missing our dialogues.
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