It is reported that NASA's psyche take-off time was delayed due to a technical problem. "A problem is preventing confirmation that the software that controls the spacecraft is working as planned," NASA said in a statement on Tuesday When the fault was found, the spacecraft had been preparing and inspecting at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
Psyche was originally scheduled to launch in early August with the assistance of SpaceX's Falcon heavy rocket. The launch has now been postponed to no earlier than September 20.
Psyche will visit an asteroid called 16 psyche, which seems to be rich in metals and may be the core of an early planet. A 2021 study questioned its origin, story and composition. NASA's spacecraft should be able to provide some reliable answers.
NASA deputy director Thomas Zurbuchen expressed support on twitter on Wednesday local time -- "in the field of science, we should always make plans for accidents. The psyche mission team is working hard to ensure that all hardware and software work properly. I am confident in their ability to detect and correct this problem."
Delay is the norm of space missions, so the date change of psyche is not uncommon.