Lower than two years after launch, NASA’s Psyche spacecraft skilled a glitch in its propulsion system that’s now jeopardizing its mission to discover a singular metallic asteroid in the principle belt. NASA engineers, ever resourceful, carried out a repair for the spacecraft’s surprising drop in strain by switching to a backup line—one they hope will assist Psyche attain its namesake asteroid.
Earlier in April, the crew of engineers with the Psyche mission detected an unexpected decrease in fuel pressure within the spacecraft’s propulsion system. The problem wanted to be resolved earlier than mid-June, in any other case it could have affected the spacecraft’s trajectory in the direction of the Psyche asteroid. After investigating, the crew lately switched from the first propellant line to a backup that NASA says is similar. The Psyche spacecraft stays on target to rendezvous with the asteroid in August 2029.
Psyche’s thrusters, powered by two massive photo voltaic arrays, ionize and expel xenon fuel to softly propel the spacecraft, in response to NASA. The spacecraft started firing its thrusters in Might 2024, however simply over a yr later, engineers detected a strain drop within the line that delivers xenon fuel to the thrusters—from 36 kilos per sq. inch (psi) to about 26 psi, in response to NASA.
After the sudden drop in strain, the crew paused the 4 electrical thrusters as they investigated the difficulty. NASA’s engineers ran intensive exams and diagnostic work and located {that a} half inside one of many valves, which opens and closes to handle the movement of propellant, stopped functioning the best way it was designed to. Because of this, the glitchy valve was obstructing the movement of xenon to the thrusters.
The crew then switched to the backup gasoline line and can command the spacecraft’s thrusters to renew firing by mid-June. The mission’s engineers will preserve the backup line’s valve within the open place to “guarantee propellant movement and keep away from any potential mechanical points sooner or later,” NASA wrote.
The mission is scheduled for a Mars flyby in spring 2026, utilizing the planet’s gravity to slingshot the spacecraft towards the principle asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. If all goes nicely, the spacecraft will enter asteroid Psyche’s orbit in late July 2029 and start its mission in August of the identical yr.
Psyche launched in October 2023, starting a 2.2 billion-mile journey to a metal-rich asteroid positioned in the principle belt. Its journey has been a very long time within the making, and had run into points even earlier than its liftoff. The mission was initially scheduled to launch in 2022, however an issue with the spacecraft’s flight software delayed the mission till its subsequent launch window the following yr. The spacecraft’s flight software program controls its orientation and trajectory, in addition to its means to ship and obtain knowledge to Earth. Per week earlier than its unique launch date on October 5, 2023, engineers discovered an issue with the Psyche spacecraft’s thrusters that would have triggered it to overheat throughout its eight-year mission. Because of this, the mission’s liftoff date was delayed by one week because the crew resolved the difficulty.
Psyche is a 140-mile-wide (226-kilometer) asteroid that could be the stripped-down core of a shattered planetesimal, one of many constructing blocks that come collectively to kind a planet. If the mission manages to achieve the asteroid, it can turn out to be the primary to discover an asteroid of its sort. We’re rooting for you, Psyche.
