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This is an archive article published on October 12, 2023

SpaceX launch of NASA mission to asteroid Psyche delayed due to bad weather

NASA's Psyche mission to the asteroid of the same name was delayed due to bad weather.

Illustration of the asteroid psyche. SpaceX will launch a nasa mission to this asteroidAn artist's illustration of the asteroid Psyche. (Maxar/ASU/P. Rubin/NASA/JPL-Caltech)
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SpaceX launch of NASA mission to asteroid Psyche delayed due to bad weather
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NASA and SpaceX announced Wednesday they are standing down from the October 12 launch of the Psyche mission to the metal-rich asteroid. The space agency and Elon Musk-led private space technology firm are now targeting a launch at 7.49 PM on Friday, October 13 from Launch Complex 39A at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

The Psyche mission will take roughly six years to reach the asteroid it is named after—16 Psyche. It was initially scheduled to launch on October 5, but the American space agency postponed that to October 12. NASA said that postponement allowed it to complete the verification of parameters used to control the spacecraft’s nitrogen cold gas thrusters.

The mission is travelling to the asteroid orbiting between Mars and Jupiter, more than 500 million kilometres away. It will be the first mission to explore an asteroid with a surface that contains large amounts of metal instead of rock and ice. It is an attempt to improve scientific knowledge of iron cores, a building block of planet formation.

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