NASA Awards Launch Services Contract for the Psyche Mission

NASA News Releases <hqnews@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> · Fri, 28 Feb 2020 21:12:29 +0000 (UTC)

February 28, 2020 
CONTRACT RELEASE C20-006
NASA Awards Launch Services Contract for the Psyche Mission

NASA has selected SpaceX of Hawthorne, California, to provide launch services for the agency’s Psyche mission. The Psyche mission currently is targeted to launch in July 2022 on a Falcon Heavy rocket from Launch Complex 39A at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.

The total cost for NASA to launch Psyche and the secondary payloads is approximately $117 million, which includes the launch service and other mission related costs.

The Psyche mission will journey to a unique metal-rich asteroid, also named Psyche, which orbits the Sun between Mars and Jupiter. The asteroid is considered unique, as it appears to largely be made of the exposed nickel-iron core of an early planet – one of the building blocks of our solar system.

Deep within rocky, terrestrial planets, including Earth, scientists infer the presence of metallic cores, but these lie unreachably far below the planet’s rocky mantles and crusts. Because we cannot see or measure Earth’s core directly, the mission to Psyche offers a unique window into the violent history of collisions and accretion that created terrestrial planets.

The launch of Psyche will include two secondary payloads: Escape and Plasma Acceleration and Dynamics Explorers (EscaPADE), which will study the Martian atmosphere, and Janus, which will study binary asteroids.  

NASA’s Launch Services Program at Kennedy Space Center in Florida will manage the SpaceX launch service. The mission is led by Arizona State University. NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory is responsible for the mission’s overall management, system engineering, integration, testing and mission operations. Maxar Space Solutions is providing a high-power solar electric propulsion spacecraft chassis.

For more information about the Psyche mission, visit:

https://www.nasa.gov/psyche

-end-

Press Contacts

Gina Anderson

Headquarters, Washington

202-358-1100

gina.n.anderson@xxxxxxxx

Tracy Young

Kennedy Space Center, Fla.

321-867-2468

tracy.g.young@xxxxxxxx

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	February 28, 2020 CONTRACT RELEASE C20-006 NASA Awards Launch Services Contract for the Psyche Mission NASA has selected SpaceX of Hawthorne, California, to provide launch services for the agency’s Psyche mission. The Psyche mission currently is targeted to launch in July 2022 on a Falcon Heavy rocket from Launch Complex 39A at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. The total cost for NASA to launch Psyche and the secondary payloads is approximately $117 million, which includes the launch service and other mission related costs. The Psyche mission will journey to a unique metal-rich asteroid, also named Psyche, which orbits the Sun between Mars and Jupiter. The asteroid is considered unique, as it appears to largely be made of the exposed nickel-iron core of an early planet – one of the building blocks of our solar system. Deep within rocky, terrestrial planets, including Earth, scientists infer the presence of metallic cores, but these lie unreachably far below the planet’s rocky mantles and crusts. Because we cannot see or measure Earth’s core directly, the mission to Psyche offers a unique window into the violent history of collisions and accretion that created terrestrial planets. The launch of Psyche will include two secondary payloads: Escape and Plasma Acceleration and Dynamics Explorers (EscaPADE), which will study the Martian atmosphere, and Janus, which will study binary asteroids. NASA’s Launch Services Program at Kennedy Space Center in Florida will manage the SpaceX launch service. The mission is led by Arizona State University. NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory is responsible for the mission’s overall management, system engineering, integration, testing and mission operations. Maxar Space Solutions is providing a high-power solar electric propulsion spacecraft chassis. For more information about the Psyche mission, visit: https://www.nasa.gov/psyche -end-
	Press Contacts Gina Anderson Headquarters, Washington 202-358-1100 gina.n.anderson@xxxxxxxx Tracy Young Kennedy Space Center, Fla. 321-867-2468 tracy.g.young@xxxxxxxx
	NASA news releases and other information are available automatically by sending an e-mail message with the subject line subscribe to hqnews-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx. To unsubscribe from the list, send an e-mail message with the subject line unsubscribe to hqnews-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx.