NASA asks space industry for proposals on using the shelved Janus probes on mission to Apophis
NASA has now put out a request for proposals from the space industry for refitting the two Janus planetary probes, whose asteroid mission was shelved when its launch as a secondary payload was delayed due to problems with the Psyche primary payload, as a mission to the asteroid Apophis in connection with its April 13, 2029 close approach to the Earth.
NASA has been studying this new mission goal since early 2023, but apparently had failed to come up with a plan. It is now asking the private sector for suggestions on getting it done, including finding the funding for any plans.
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NASA has now put out a request for proposals from the space industry for refitting the two Janus planetary probes, whose asteroid mission was shelved when its launch as a secondary payload was delayed due to problems with the Psyche primary payload, as a mission to the asteroid Apophis in connection with its April 13, 2029 close approach to the Earth.
NASA has been studying this new mission goal since early 2023, but apparently had failed to come up with a plan. It is now asking the private sector for suggestions on getting it done, including finding the funding for any plans.
Readers!
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black. Your support allows me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Only now does it appear that Washington might finally recognize this reality.
In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are four ways of doing so:
1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.
2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation.
3. A Paypal Donation or subscription:
4. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
P.O.Box 1262
Cortaro, AZ 85652
You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage or shown in the menu above.
What mechanism can a private company possibly have for ‘finding’ funding for a science probe? There doesn’t seem to be any way for a return on investment.
Tourist flights, mining for platinum gold and unobtanium, telescope time; sure I’ll invest. Spectroscopy, pretty pictures, field measurements, particle detectors; sorry nope.
John asked: “What mechanism can a private company possibly have for ‘finding’ funding for a science probe? There doesn’t seem to be any way for a return on investment.”
Well, you may end up with valuable data and information. The very same data and information that NASA and Congress thought were worth hundreds of millions or billions of dollars to obtain. Someone may pay money for it. Maybe more than one someones, if it is not made public domain and it remains proprietary only to the company that collected the data and the companies that buy access to the data.
The Janus probes weigh 36 kg. each. A number of the smaller launch vehicles currently in development or in service could likely launch such a mission.
As for funding and a “business case,” raising the profile of one’s launch company would be worth something – maybe quite a bit.
There are also any number of other venerable money-raisers that could be applied. One that comes readily to mind is sale of naming rights. Sell the rights to name either or both of the probes.
Another is NASCAR-style sponsorships in return for sponsor logos being applied to the two probes. The probes have cameras so each can photograph the other showing all of the logos applied to each.
A third would be some sort of opportunity for the general public to participate. There are actually several ways this could work. One would be inclusion of a plate on each probe with the names of each person contributing some minimal donation – $10, say, or the rough equivalent in other currency – micro-etched on.
A second would be some sort of raffle with two winners getting to choose to put either their own photographic images, or those of some other person they want to thus honor, in a place on the side of one probe so it would be visible along with the corporate sponsor logos.
The possibilities for fund-raising all or a large part of the required funds for such a project are many and varied.