Mind-Blowing: The Space Treasure More Valuable Than The Global Economy
An astronomical discovery has amazed scientists around the world - an asteroid in the cosmos like an enormous treasure trove of gold worth more than the entire global economy.
NASA is preparing to hunt down the space body called Psyche 16 in a mission that will launch in 2023. The asteroid could contain metal from the core of a planetesimal (the building block of an early rocky planet).
NASA's Psyche spacecraft, which was built to study the massive metallic asteroid located between Mars and Jupiter that contains gold, iron, and nickel worth 10.000 quadrillion dollars (1 quadrillion = 1 × 1015), was scheduled to depart in August 2022, but technical problems led to the rescheduling of the mission, according to NDTV.
Asteroid Psyche 16 is 220 kilometers wide and it will be studied by the US space agency NASA, which will send a spacecraft near its orbit no earlier than 10 October 2023.
The Space Treasure More Valuable Than The Global Economy
NASA’s Psyche mission aims to explore this unique metallic asteroid orbiting the sun between Mars and Jupiter.
The Psyche mission is part of NASA's breakthrough program of low-cost robotic space missions.
Most asteroids are rocky or icy, but since 16 Psyche is believed to have a metallic core of a dead planet, it's hoped the mission will provide insights into our understanding of Earth's core. It may offer a unique window into the violent history of collisions and accretion that created terrestrial planets like Earth.
Software issues have pushed the mission timeline back three years. As a result, NASA's Psyche spacecraft will reach the asteroid, which lies in the solar system's main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, in August 2029, instead of the originally planned January 2026.
The Psyche spacecraft will then use its three science instruments to take measurements of the asteroid: a magnetometer to measure the asteroid's magnetic field, a multispectral imager to capture images of the surface and its data, what it is composed of and its geological features, and spectrometers that analyze neutrons and gamma rays coming from the surface to reveal what the asteroid is made of.
NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) director said that he is extremely proud of the Psyche team. During this analysis, they have demonstrated significant progress already made toward the future launch date.
Arizona State University leads the Psyche mission. JPL, which is managed by Caltech for NASA, is responsible for the mission’s overall management, system engineering, integration and test, and mission operations.
Maxar Technologies in Palo Alto, California, provided the high-power solar electric propulsion spacecraft chassis.
For more info about NASA's #MissionToPsyche, go to: http://www.nasa.gov/psyche and https://psyche.asu.edu/
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