NASA's mission to the metal-rich asteroid Psyche that may give insights about Earth's core is set for Oct. 12 after delays over the spacecraft's nitrogen cold gas thrusters.
NASA’s mission to one of the rarest types of asteroids in the solar system is set to launch on Oct. 12 from the Kennedy Space Center after a
The spacecraft, Psyche, will make a six-year journey to a metal-rich asteroid — also named Psyche — orbiting the sun between Mars and Jupiter. The mission plans to have the spacecraft orbit the asteroid for 26 months while mapping and studying its properties in"unprecedented detail," Handleman said.This illustration, created in March 2021, depicts the asteroid Psyche, which lies in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.
Psyche — 173 miles at it's longest point — is the largest of about nine asteroids in our solar system that appear to be made of mostly metal such as iron and nickel, NASA's Planetary Science Division director, Lori Glaze, saidNASA’s Psyche spacecraft will take a spiral path to the asteroid Psyche. It is expected to arrive at the asteroid about six years after its launch.
"If we go to Psyche, and it is an exposed metal core, that’s the only way we can actually see inside a planet to see what a metal core looks like," she added."We’ve never seen anything like it before."
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