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AsteriaStar
Small-body mission · NASA / Lockheed Martin

Janus (cancelled)

A NASA SIMPLEx pair of small spacecraft designed to fly by binary asteroids. Built to share Psyche's launch, the twins were left without a viable trajectory when Psyche slipped by a year, and the mission was cancelled with the spacecraft put into storage.

CancelledFlyby Mission

Imagery

North on Janus

2008

NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute · NASA media (public domain)

Source archive ↗

Targets & sample

Also:Binary near-Earth asteroids (original targets no longer reachable)

Mission & science

Goals
Fly two small spacecraft by binary asteroids to study rubble-pile structure.
Outcome
Cancelled in 2023 after the Psyche launch delay removed a viable trajectory.
Known limitations
Cancelled before launch; hardware placed in storage.

Knowledge connections

Sources

The primary and reference sources this topic draws on.

  • NASANational Aeronautics and Space Administration

    Mission data, planetary science, space telescopes, and public-domain imagery.

    Most NASA-produced imagery is in the public domain; individual items are checked for usage terms before publication.