NASA, the American space agency, plans to deploy a high-tech spacecraft dubbed Psyche to the asteroid 16 Psyche. It will be the first mission of its sort to examine a metal-rich asteroid, with the goal of helping scientists understand more about the genesis of rocky things in our solar system. The mission will be launched on Thursday (October 12) by NASA’s Psyche spacecraft, which will travel 2.2 billion miles from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
Everything you need to know about NASA’s Psyche asteroid project is right here:
NASA’s Psyche asteroid mission’s goal
Scientists concluded that the asteroid Psyche could be part of the metal-rich interior of a planetesimal, a building block of a rocky planet that never formed, based on data from Earth-based radar and optical observatories. During its early creation, the rock may have clashed with other massive things, causing it to lose its outer rocky shell. Exploring the Psyche could therefore provide insight into the history of violent collisions and the accumulation of stuff that resulted in planets.
NASA and Arizona State University collaborated on the Psyche mission
NASA and Arizona State University (ASU) collaborated on the Psyche asteroid expedition. Linda Elkins Tanton, the mission’s primary investigator, is based at ASU. The mission is being managed by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California for the agency’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington. JPL, which is managed for NASA by Caltech in Pasadena, is also in charge of system engineering, integration and testing, and mission operations. NASA’s Launch Services Program at Kennedy Space Center oversees launch operations and has purchased a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket from SpaceX.
How can I see NASA’s Psyche asteroid mission launch?
Official news regarding the spacecraft’s trip will be posted on the mission websites nasa.gov/psyche and psyche.asu.edu. NASA and ASU will also provide regular updates on Facebook, Instagram, and X. Follow the link below to watch the launch live.
How will Psyche’s research vary from that of other objects in the solar system?
Other solar system bodies, including Mars, Venus, and Earth, are made up of iron oxides, but Psyche’s surface appears to be devoid of these chemical compounds. This shows that the asteroid’s history departs from conventional planetary formation tales. Scientists will understand how the asteroid’s history parallels and differs from that of the rocky planets if it is found to be leftover core material from a planetary construction piece. If scientists determine that Psyche is not an exposed core, it may represent a hitherto unseen type of primordial solar system object.