NASA and SpaceX are standing down from the Oct. 12 launch of the agency’s Psyche mission due to unfavorable weather conditions. NASA and SpaceX are now targeting launch at 10:19 a.m. EDT Friday, Oct. 13, from Launch Complex 39A at Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
Live launch coverage without commentary will begin at 9:15 a.m. EDT on the NASA Television media channel. The live launch broadcast with commentary will begin at 9:30 a.m. EDT on the NASA Television public channel and also will air on YouTube, X, Facebook, Twitch, Daily Motion, the NASA app, and the agency’s website.
A SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket with the Psyche spacecraft onboard is seen at Launch Complex 39A as preparations continue for the Psyche mission, Wednesday, Oct. 11, 2023, at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Photo credit: NASA/Aubrey Gemignani
Join the hosts of NASA EDGE today from Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Pad 39A and Hangar AE for the Psyche Rollout Show, airing live on NASA TV and YouTube at 5 p.m. EDT.
The hosts of NASA EDGE will take a unique look at NASA’s Psyche mission and the agency’s first primary launch of a spacecraft on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket. Launch is targeted for 10:16 a.m. EDT on Thursday, Oct. 12, from Kennedy.
NASA’s longest-running video podcast, NASA EDGE provides an offbeat, funny, and informative look into NASA and its missions. You can also check out NASA EDGE on Facebook, Flickr, and X.
NASA’s Psyche spacecraft stands tall atop a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket at Kennedy Space Center’s historic Launch Complex 39A in Florida on Tuesday, Oct. 10, 2023. NASA’s Launch Services Program, based at Kennedy, is responsible for the insight and approval of the launch vehicle and manages the launch service for the Psyche mission. Photo credit: SpaceX
NASA will host a prelaunch news briefing today at 1 p.m. EDT, to discuss the Psyche mission. NASA and SpaceX completed a launch readiness review Tuesday, Oct. 10, resulting in a “go” for launch of the spacecraft that will study a metal-rich asteroid orbiting the Sun between Mars and Jupiter.
The prelaunch briefing will air live on NASA Television, the agency website, the NASA app, and YouTube channel. The public may ask questions on social media during the briefing using #AskNASA.
Arlena Moses, launch weather officer, U.S. Space Force Space
Meteorologists with the U.S. Space Force’s Space Launch Delta 45 Weather Squadron are predicting a 20% chance of favorable weather conditions for launch, which is targeting 10:16 a.m. on Oct. 12 from Launch Complex 39A.
Integrated on the Psyche spacecraft is NASA’s Deep Space Optical Communications experiment, the agency’s first demonstration of optical communications beyond the Earth-Moon system.
Teams transport NASA’s encapsulated Psyche spacecraft from the Astrotech Space Operations Facility in Titusville to Launch Pad 39A at Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Friday, Oct. 6, 2023. Photo credit: NASA/Ben Smegelsky
Officials from NASA, Arizona State University, and MIT will discuss the launch of Psyche and the Deep Space Optical Communications experiment during a science briefing at 12 p.m. EDT today.
The media briefing will air live on NASA Television, the NASA app, YouTube, and on the agency’s website. The public may ask questions on social media during the briefing using #AskNASA.
Participants include:
Lori Glaze, Planetary Science Division director, NASA Headquarters
Lindy Elkins-Tanton, Psyche principal investigator, Arizona State University
Ben Weiss, Psyche deputy principal investigator and magnetometer lead, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
David Oh, chief engineer for operations, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL)
Abi Biswas, project technologist for Deep Space Optical Communications, JPL
Also tune in to NASA Television, the agency website, NASA app, or YouTube at 1 p.m. EDT on Wednesday, Oct. 11, for a prelaunch news briefing featuring NASA senior leaders and Psyche mission managers discussing the mission.
Liftoff of the mission to the asteroid Psyche is targeted for 10:16 a.m. EDT on Thursday, Oct. 12, on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket from historic Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
Weather officials with Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s 45th Weather Squadron predict a 20% chance of favorable weather conditions for Thursday’s launch, with the anvil cloud, cumulous cloud, and surface electric field rules being the primary weather concerns.
SpaceX is targeting 10:16 a.m. EDT Thursday, Oct. 12, to launch NASA’s Psyche spacecraft atop its Falcon Heavy rocket from Launch Complex 39A at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Psyche has launch opportunities through Oct. 25.
Psyche is the first mission to explore an asteroid with a surface that likely contains substantial amounts of metal rather than rock or ice. NASA’s Launch Services Program, based at Kennedy Space Center, is responsible for the insight and approval of the launch vehicle and manages the launch service for the Psyche mission.
Join the conversation, follow the launch, and get Psyche mission updates from these accounts:
Technicians encapsulate NASA’s Psyche spacecraft in its payload fairings – the cone at the top of the rocket – at the Astrotech Space Operations facility in Titusville, Florida, on Tuesday, Oct. 3, 2023. Next, the spacecraft will move to SpaceX facilities at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. Photo credit: NASA/Ben Smegelsky
In the early hours of Oct. 6, workers transported NASA’s Psyche spacecraft to the SpaceX hangar at Launch Complex 39A at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in preparation for launch. Earlier in the week, technicians completed encapsulation of the spacecraft, along with the DSOC (Deep Space Optical Communications) technology demonstration, inside a clean room at the Astrotech Space Operations facility in Titusville, Florida.
The fairings will protect the spacecraft from aerodynamic pressure and heat during launch. After the rocket’s second stage climbs to a high enough altitude, the fairings will separate from the vehicle and return to Earth. Soon, technicians will mate the spacecraft to a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket in preparation for launch, which is targeted for 10:16 a.m. EDT, Thursday, Oct. 12.
Psyche will be NASA’s first primary science mission launched to orbit by a Falcon Heavy rocket, and the second interplanetary mission SpaceX has launched on behalf of NASA. NASA’s Launch Services Program certified the rocket for use with the agency’s most complex and highest priority missions in early 2023 at the conclusion of a 2.5 year effort.
Psyche’s mission is to study an asteroid that may be like Earth’s core, composed of a mixture of rock and iron-nickel metal. The asteroid offers a unique window into these building blocks of planet formation and the opportunity to investigate a previously unexplored type of world. It will take about six years for the spacecraft to arrive at the asteroid’s orbit between Mars and Jupiter. Psyche will then spend around 26 months orbiting the asteroid at four different altitudes, the highest being approximately 440 miles and the lowest only about 40 miles above the surface, to gather information about its topography and composition as well as its magnetic and gravitational properties.
The DSOC technology demonstration, NASA’s farthest-ever test of high-bandwidth optical communications, will happen during the first two years of the roughly six-year journey to Psyche. DSOC will send and receive test data from Earth using an invisible near-infrared laser, which can transmit data at 10 to 100 times the bandwidth of conventional radio wave systems used on spacecraft today. What the team learns from DSOC could support future agency missions, including humanity’s next giant leap: when NASA sends astronauts to Mars.
Artist’s concept illustration depicting the spacecraft of NASA’s Psyche mission near the mission’s target, the metal asteroid Psyche.
NASA and SpaceX are now targeting Oct. 12 at 10:16 a.m. EDT for a Falcon Heavy launch of the Psyche mission from Launch Complex 39A at Kennedy Space Center. The change allows the NASA team to complete verifications of the parameters used to control the Psyche spacecraft’s nitrogen cold gas thrusters. These thrusters are used to point the vehicle in support of science, power, thermal and other demands, such as spacecraft orientation and momentum management. The parameters were recently adjusted in response to updated, warmer temperature predictions for these thrusters. Operating the thrusters within temperature limits is essential to ensure the long-term health of the units.
The verification activities involve rerunning simulations and fine-tuning adjustments as required to the flight parameters and procedures.
NASA, SpaceX, and Psyche mission managers met today, Sept. 28, to conduct a Flight Readiness Review (FRR) at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. During the FRR, teams provided an update on the mission status, and certified the readiness to initiate final launch preparation activities including a static fire test on Sept. 29.
Psyche has launch opportunities every day between Oct. 12 and Oct. 25.
NASA’s Psyche mission is scheduled to lift off at 10:38 a.m. EDT Thursday, Oct. 5, on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket from Launch Complex 39A at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. NASA’s Launch Services Program is managing the launch.
Digital content creators are invited to register to attend the launch of NASA’s Psyche spacecraft and create content based on the experience. The Psyche mission will journey to a unique metal-rich asteroid orbiting the Sun between Mars and Jupiter.
Psyche is scheduled to lift off at 10:38 a.m. EDT on Thursday, Oct. 5, on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket from Launch Complex 39A at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. NASA’s Launch Services Program is managing the launch.
If your passion is to communicate and engage people online, then this event is for you! Seize the opportunity to see and share the #MissionToPsyche launch. A maximum of 35 social media users will be selected to attend this two-day event (Oct. 4-5, 2023) and will be given access similar to news media.
NASA Social participants will have the opportunity to:
View a launch of the SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket
Tour NASA facilities at Kennedy Space Center
Meet and interact with Psyche science and engineering experts
Meet fellow space enthusiasts who are active on social media
NASA Social registration for the Psyche launch opens on Tuesday, Aug. 22, and the deadline to apply is 12 p.m. EDT Monday, Aug. 28. All social applications will be considered on a case-by-case basis.
