NASA Asteroid Mission on Hold Due to Late Software Delivery

NASA Asteroid Mission on Hold Due to Late Software Delivery
Technicians work on the Psyche spacecraft at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. on April 11, 2022. Marcio Jose Sanchez/AP Photo
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NASA put an asteroid mission on hold Friday, blaming the late delivery of its own navigation software.

The Psyche mission to a strange metal asteroid of the same name was supposed to launch this September or October. But the agency’s Jet Propulsion Lab was several months late delivering its software for navigation, guidance, and control—a crucial part of any spacecraft. Engineers “just ran out of time” to test it, officials said Friday.