Asteroid probe thought to be tumbling in space; CEO vows to try again
HUNTINGTON BEACH, Calif. – The company behind a mission to examine a nearby asteroid reports that their spacecraft is likely tumbling in space after encountering significant communication issues following liftoff.
AstroForge founder and CEO Matt Gialich provided an update on the status of the Odin spacecraft via social media on Saturday.
The 265-pound asteroid surveyor was launched aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Nasa's Kennedy Space Center on Wednesday, with its destination set for the asteroid known as 2022 OB5, but communication issues arose less than 24 hours after liftoff.
"I want to remind everybody this was a test mission. It was built in ten months at an accelerated pace. The point of this mission was to learn, and I think we've learned a lot," Gialich said during the briefing.
The Odin spacecraft was designated for a flyby mission, with future spacecraft planned to actually land on the asteroid and mine for materials.
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It was not stated whether the issues encountered by Odin would affect a planned landing in as early as 2026, but the CEO didn't entirely rule out the possibility of reestablishing communications with the spacecraft.
"We're going to keep our heads up. We're going to keep trying over the weekend, and we'll see how far we get," Gialich stated.
The spacecraft is believed to be nearly 200,000 miles away from Earth and is generating power from its solar panels.
"I want to tell you guys everything - the errors we made, the issues we had, all the problems we encountered, and everything that went wrong. Because I think, as a team and as a company, and as humans, that's how we get better at these missions," Gialich stated.
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AstroForge's mission has largely flown under the radar of news headlines as several lunar landers are en route to the Moon's surface, which have garnered the attention of space watchers.Firefly Aerospace is scheduled to attempt its first-ever moon landing on Sunday with its Blue Ghost lander, while Intuitive Machines will attempt its landing with IM-2 on March 6.Intuitive Machines' spacecraft was launched on the same Falcon 9 rocket as AstroForge's Odin, but, unlike the asteroid surveyor, the lunar lander has not reported any significant technical problems that would prevent a landing attempt.Original article source: Asteroid probe thought to be tumbling in space; CEO vows to try again
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