Janus Twin Binary-Asteroid Small-Spacecraft Mission
NASA’s Janus was a canceled SIMPLEx mission of twin small spacecraft designed to fly by two separate binary asteroid systems and study their formation and evolution. A change to Psyche’s launch trajectory made the original targets inaccessible; NASA removed Janus from the manifest and directed the spacecraft into long-term storage without a flight.
Follow this vehicle family
Alerts for directly linked future launches and major activity.
Identity
- Aliases
- JanusJanus missionJanus spacecraftJanus twin spacecraftJanus SIMPLEx mission
- Family Name
- Janus
- Full Name
- Janus Twin Binary-Asteroid Small-Spacecraft Mission
- Roles
- interplanetary_proberesearchtechnology_demonstrator
- Status
- canceled
- Type
- spacecraft
Details
- Description
- NASA’s Janus was a canceled SIMPLEx mission of twin small spacecraft designed to fly by two separate binary asteroid systems and study their formation and evolution. A change to Psyche’s launch trajectory made the original targets inaccessible; NASA removed Janus from the manifest and directed the spacecraft into long-term storage without a flight.
- Operator
Links
- Official Url
- https://science.nasa.gov/mission/janus/
Assets & Meta
- Creation Time
- August 15, 2026 at 05:38:46 UTC
- Updated Time
- August 15, 2026 at 05:38:46 UTC