The inability of NASA to launch the Psyche probe on time shows the limitations and risks involved in low-cost rideshare missions.
Scheeres and his colleagues are hoping to study the complex orbital dynamics of the binary asteroids and create accurate models of the two systems, which they would do using a suite of cameras mounted onto the probes. By studying the asteroids from up-close, scientists will gain an improved understanding of the early solar system and acquire important insights that could improve planetary defense strategies against threatening near-Earth objects.
“The Janus mission, as conceived of and proposed to NASA, will give us information on how rubble pile asteroids evolve over time,” Scheeres explained to me in an email. “There are fundamental questions about how small, weakly bound rubble piles change over time, which has implications for a range of phenomena in the solar system—ranging from the protoplanetary disk to planetary rings to the after-effects of catastrophic disruptions.
Under the original mission parameters, the Janus probes were scheduled to perform a series of Earth flybys to meet up with the asteroids in four years, but Scheeres said the delayed launch means these critical flybys are no longer possible. “Our spacecraft were designed to be launched during August—it allowed us to be properly timed to get to our target asteroids,” Scheeres wrote. “The slip into September mostly makes this timing not feasible, except for a few days.
Scheeres and his colleagues are in the midst of locating other asteroids that are “scientifically interesting which we could reach on other days of the launch period,” he said. “We would just need to refocus our science goals.” One potential target, 1996 FG3, could be reached by both Janus probes should Psyche launch between October 7 and 10,
to SpaceNews. But as a rideshare mission, the team has “no ability to influence the launch dates or the targeting of the launch vehicle, and that arises from our status as a rideshare,”Such is the fate of ridesharers, who must stand by and watch situations unfold outside of their control. “It is frustrating, of course,” he told me. “However, these are the rules for rideshares, so it’s not like we didn’t know that this might happen.
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