SpaceX and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) plan to launch the Psyche mission to the asteroid Psyche, located between Mars and Jupiter.
According to Ukrinform, this was announced by SpaceX.
The super-heavy SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket, which is expected to carry the Psyche spacecraft, will be launched from the 39A launch complex of the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on October 12 at 17:16 Kiev time. A backup launch was planned for Friday, October 13.
SpaceX statedThat the rocket has already been moved to a vertical position on the launch pad.
The Psyche spacecraft will travel to metal-rich asteroids orbiting the Sun between Jupiter and Mars to investigate the protoplanet’s nickel-iron core.
The mission will also demonstrate the first deep space test of NASA’s Deep Space Optical Communications (DSOC) system.
The cost of the Psyche mission is estimated at $1.2 billion. If all goes as planned, the spacecraft will arrive at the 280-kilometer asteroid Psyche, located in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, in 2029.
As Ukrinform reported, the mission’s launch was originally scheduled for October 5 but was delayed by a week due to a problem with the engines that could have caused overheating during the mission.