NASA’s Psyche project attempts to find a unique asteroid circling the Sun between Mars and Jupiter.
This asteroid stands out from others because it resembles the exposed nickel-iron core of a young planet, one of the constituent parts of our solar system. Yes, this asteroid is entirely formed of metal and not of rocks or ice.
It will be the first NASA mission created to examine a metal-rich asteroid and will aid in the understanding of iron cores, a hitherto undiscovered component of planet formation.
The Psyche mission is significant because it provides a fantastic opportunity to research the history of collisions and accretion that produced terrestrial planets. The metallic cores of terrestrial planets, including Earth, are inaccessible for research because they are buried deep within the rocky mantles and crusts.
Consequently, this asteroid offers a pretty fantastic opportunity to uncover some mysteries regarding planet formation.
According to the predetermined timeline, NASA anticipated that the Psyche spacecraft will enter the orbit of the asteroid by 2026. It also intends to stay in the asteroid’s orbit for 21 months to survey and characterise Psyche.
Although the specific dates of these prospective launch windows have not yet been decided, according to NASA, the Psyche mission is anticipated to launch in both 2023 and 2024.
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Image Credit: NASA
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Space mining 🌝 lot of exoplanets and meteors out there with amazing mineral content. Should be great if we were able to extract some of it.
wow