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NASA’s Janus Mission Faces Setback as Twin Spacecraft Remain Grounded

NASA’s Janus spacecraft, designed to study unexplored asteroids, will remain locked inside a Lockheed Martin factory in Colorado, according to an announcement made by NASA on Tuesday. The mission was originally planned to launch last year alongside NASA’s Psyche spacecraft, but software testing issues on the Psyche spacecraft caused a delay of over a year. An independent review board found problems with the software and weaknesses in the testing plan, which were exacerbated by staffing and workforce issues at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

While the Psyche mission is now back on track for liftoff in October, the Janus spacecraft will not be aboard. Janus was intended to fly to two binary asteroids closer to Earth than the metallic asteroid Psyche. However, the positions of the target asteroids have changed too much since last year, making them inaccessible to the Janus spacecraft without flying too far from the Sun for their solar arrays to generate sufficient power.

When it became clear that the Janus target asteroids were no longer reachable, scientists and NASA management decided to remove the twin spacecraft from the Psyche launch. One idea to repurpose the Janus spacecraft was to send them to fly by asteroid Apophis, which will come within 20,000 miles of Earth’s surface in 2029. However, astronomers have ruled out any risk of a collision with Apophis for the next 100-plus years.

The decision to keep the Janus spacecraft in storage was primarily driven by budget constraints at NASA. The agency directed the Janus team to prepare the spacecraft for long-term storage due to limited resources in the coming years. NASA’s planetary science budget is already strained by rising costs on other missions, such as the Mars Sample Return project and the Europa Clipper mission. The recent debt ceiling budget deal is expected to impact NASA’s overall funding levels.
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What were the main reasons for the delay and storage of NASA’s Janus spacecraft?

NASA’s Janus spacecraft, which was designed to study unexplored asteroids, will not be launching alongside the Psyche spacecraft as originally planned. Due to software testing issues and staffing challenges caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the Janus mission has been delayed and will now remain locked inside a Lockheed Martin factory in Colorado.

While the Psyche mission is back on track for liftoff in October, the Janus spacecraft will not be joining it. The target asteroids for the Janus mission have changed position too much since last year, making them impossible to reach without compromising the spacecraft’s power generation capabilities.

Scientists and NASA management initially explored the idea of repurposing the Janus spacecraft to fly by asteroid Apophis, which will pass close to Earth in 2029. However, astronomers have determined that there is no risk of a collision with Apophis for the next century.

The decision to store the Janus spacecraft is primarily driven by budget constraints at NASA. Limited resources and rising costs on other missions, such as the Mars Sample Return project and the Europa Clipper mission, have forced the agency to prioritize its spending. Additionally, the recent budget deal is expected to impact NASA’s overall funding levels.

Unfortunately, the Janus spacecraft will remain in storage for the foreseeable future.

2 thoughts on “NASA’s Janus Mission Faces Setback as Twin Spacecraft Remain Grounded”

  1. It’s disheartening to hear about the setback faced by NASA’s Janus Mission. Let’s hope they overcome these challenges soon and get the twin spacecraft up and running for their groundbreaking mission.

    Reply
  2. It’s disappointing to hear about the setback for NASA’s Janus Mission. Let’s hope the twin spacecraft can overcome the obstacles and get back on track soon.

    Reply

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