NASA will not launch two $50 million Janus space probes because their target asteroids have escaped

NASA told a story about how you can spend tens of millions of dollars and freeze a project. The space agency created two Janus probes to study asteroids, but will not be able to use them.

Here's What We Know

NASA spent $50 million of the allocated $55 million to prepare the mission. The spacecraft are designed to study a system of two asteroids. However, instead of launching, the agency decided to start preparing for long-term storage of the probes.

The reason for freezing the multi-million dollar project is that the target asteroids simply flew away. They have moved away from the Sun, so the solar panels will not be able to generate enough power to sustain the probes.

NASA wanted to send the instruments into space on a Falcon 9 rocket along with the Psyche space station to study the asteroid of the same name. It has a diameter of more than 200 kilometres and is located between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter.

The specialists had problems with the Psyche software. Because of this, the mission was postponed for more than a year. This time was enough time for asteroids to escape from the Sun and force NASA to freeze the Janus project.

Source: ArsTechnica