The Janus asteroid probes were originally intended to launch alongside Psyche on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket in October.
The Janus mission was meant to launch in October last year as a piggyback payload on the same rocket as NASA's larger Psyche spacecraft. Psyche was rescheduled to fly this October to its 140-mile-wide metallic asteroid target, 16 Psyche.
The Janus mission was targeting two binary asteroids that fly near each other and orbit the Sun closer than Psyche. Though the Psyche spacecraft is still able to reach its target, the asteroids targeted by Janus will have moved too far away. To reach them, the Janus probes would have to fly too far from the Sun, and their solar arrays wouldn't be able to generate the required power, NASA explained.
That's not to say the probes will never be used in the future, but right now, NASA has no plans to deploy the $50 million spacecraft.Problems with software testing on the Psyche spacecraft caused the delay in last year's launch. After the independent review and several changes to the mission's management infrastructure, Psyche is now back on track for liftoff in October aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket.
Some scientists believe 16 Psyche may contain as many as $700 quintillion worth of heavy metals, though others have
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