- 4185 - NASA's Psyche metal asteroid mission. The mission launches on Thursday, October 12, 2023. The Psyche spacecraft will visit a giant metal asteroid of the same name to investigate material left over from the early solar system.
--------------------- 4185 - NASA's Psyche metal asteroid mission.
- After traveling an
estimated 2.2 billion miles, the spacecraft will arrive at the asteroid “16
Psyche”, which is located at the far edge of the main asteroid belt between
Mars and Jupiter, in 2029.
-
- Once the spacecraft
is in place, mission scientists will study the metal asteroid, which is
different from the rock- and ice-dominated bodies studied in situ in the past,
to learn more about how the rocky planets of the solar system (Mercury, Venus,
Earth and Mars) formed.
-
- Discovered in
1852, Psyche is considered one of the most fascinating objects in the main
asteroid belt, and scientists have only been able to study it at a distance.
Scientists think the asteroid is composed of the exposed core of a
planetesimal, a small body that formed during planet formation as gas and dust
around a star collapsed in dense patches.
-
- A planetesimal
could eventually go on to gather more mass and thus become a planet. But Psyche
is thought to have failed to reach planet status because it collided with other
larger bodies as the solar system was forming around 4.5 billion years ago,
possibly stripping the metal-rich asteroid of its outer rocky shell and
exposing its iron-rich core.
-
- That means that studying
this 173-mile-wide, potato-shaped asteroid could not only help reveal more
about the collisions that took place in the early solar system but also provide
scientists with a proxy for the inaccessible iron core of our own planet.
-
- Psyche seems to
diverge from the solar system planets born from planetesimals. Whereas the
rocks of the inner solar system planets are replete with iron oxides, Psyche
lacks these compounds. If Psyche is indeed composed of material left over from
the birth of the rocky planets, its existence could point to a different type
of planetary formation that diverges from the mechanism that created Earth.
-
- But even if Psyche
turns out not to be an exposed planetesimal core, the asteroid is still very
interesting to scientists because it could mean it belongs to a population of
never-before-seen primordial solar system bodies.
-
- The spacecraft,
which measures 16.1 by 7.1 by 7.8 feet, will depend on a solar electric
propulsion system that captures sunlight with its large solar arrays and then
converts it to electric and magnetic fields. These fields accelerate charged
atoms of the propellant xenon , which is commonly found in plasma televisions
on Earth. These atoms, in the form of blue-glowing ionized gas, are then
blasted out into space by the Psyche spacecraft's four thrusters, providing the
craft with propulsion.
-
- According to
NASA, each of these four thrusters operates one at a time, providing a force
equivalent to the weight of three quarters in your hand here on Earth. This is in the microgravity and frictionless
environment of space, enough to propel the spacecraft.
-
- Even with these
revolutionary "Hall-effect thrusters", which, so far, have been used
to get only as far as the moon, the spacecraft's journey to the vicinity of
Jupiter won't be a 'straight shot." Instead, it will require a
gravity-assisted slingshot maneuver around Mars in 2026, and Psyche will arrive
at its metal-rich asteroid target in August 2029.
-
- The spacecraft will
then make orbits of the asteroid at a distance of around 430 miles , which will
decrease as the mission proceeds. The spacecraft will use progressively closer
orbital periods to investigate different characteristics of the asteroid.
-
- During its first
closer orbit , or “orbital regime (A)”, lasting 56 days, the spacecraft will
use its magnetometer to search Psyche for an ancient magnetic field, which
would provide evidence that the asteroid was once a planetary body.
-
- As the spacecraft
does this, its multispectral imager will assess the topography of Psyche's
surface. This will continue as the NASA orbiter draws closer to the asteroid,
hopefully revealing more details of these characteristics, particularly during
the next two orbital regimes (B1 and B2), which will last 192 days.
-
- Moving even closer
to the asteroid, during the 100-day orbital regime C, Psyche's
telecommunications system, which sends data to Earth and receives commands from
ground control via radio waves, will be used to investigate the gravitational
influence of the metal-rich asteroid. This could help better constrain its mass
and density and thus the asteroid's interior composition and structure.
-
- During its 100-day
orbital regime D, Psyche will employ its gamma-ray neutron spectrometer to get
a better picture of the asteroid's surface topology and investigate the
chemical elements that are abundant on the asteroid's surface.
-
- You can watch the
launch Thursday beginning at 9:30 a.m. EDT on NASA TV and directly on Space.com
courtesy of NASA.
-
-
October 12, 2023 Psyche
metal asteroid mission. 4185
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-------- Comments
appreciated and Pass it on to whomever is interested. ---
--- Some reviews are
at: -------------- http://jdetrick.blogspot.com -----
-- email feedback,
corrections, request for copies or Index of all reviews
--- to: ------
jamesdetrick@comcast.net
------ “Jim Detrick” -----------
--------------------- ---
Thursday, October 12, 2023 ---------------------------------
No comments:
Post a Comment