{"id":1192139,"date":"2023-10-13T14:38:19","date_gmt":"2023-10-13T18:38:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.prime-wow.com\/?p=1192139"},"modified":"2023-10-13T14:38:19","modified_gmt":"2023-10-13T18:38:19","slug":"nasas-psyche-spacecraft-embarks-on-a-six-year-journey-to-its-asteroid-namesake","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.prime-wow.com\/?p=1192139","title":{"rendered":"NASA\u2019s Psyche spacecraft embarks on a six-year journey to its asteroid namesake"},"content":{"rendered":"

NASA\u2019s Psyche spacecraft<\/a> has blasted off<\/a> and begun a six-year, 2.2-billion-mile journey to a peculiar asteroid. Astronomers have speculated that the space rock, also named Psyche, was once the partial core of a small planet in the early days of the Solar System. The seemingly iron- and nickel-rich asteroid may hold clues to the formation of planets, including our own.<\/p>\n

On Friday, the uncrewed Psyche spacecraft lifted off at 10:19AM ET aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy<\/a> rocket at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. After successfully jettisoning its fairings and separating from the rocket, ground controllers established two-way communication. Telemetry reports indicate it made it to space in good health. The mission had faced numerous delays<\/a> before finally lifting off.<\/p>\n

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Psyche (the asteroid) rotates around the sun in a belt between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. Researchers estimate<\/a> it\u2019s made of 30 to 60 percent nickel-iron core, allowing them a rare glimpse into a (possible) planetary core. \u201cMy best guess is that it\u2019s more than half metal based on the data that we\u2019ve got,\u201d Lindy Elkins-Tanton, an Arizona State University professor working as the mission\u2019s principal investigator, told<\/a> The New York Times<\/em>. \u201cWe\u2019re really going to see a kind of new object, which means that a lot of our ideas are going to be proven wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n

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NASA \/ Kim Shiflett<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

The spacecraft will take around six years to reach Psyche. At that point, NASA\u2019s Psyche craft will orbit the asteroid for 26 months, studying it with various instruments. The craft will use cameras to get an up-close peek, a magnetometer to look for an ancient magnetic field, a gamma-ray spectrometer to detect high-energy gamma rays and neutrons and a radio antenna to map the space rock\u2019s gravity.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am excited to see the treasure trove of science Psyche will unlock as NASA\u2019s first mission to a metal world,\u201d said Nicola Fox, a NASA Science Mission Directorate associate. \u201cBy studying asteroid Psyche, we hope to better understand our universe and our place in it, especially regarding the mysterious and impossible-to-reach metal core of our own home planet, Earth.\u201d<\/p>\n

The spacecraft will also test NASA\u2019s deep space laser communications, an experimental communications method that could increase deep space bandwidth 100-fold over the current standard, radio waves. \u201cIt\u2019s exciting to know that, in a few short weeks, Deep Space Optical Communications will begin sending data back to Earth to test this critical capability for the future of space exploration,\u201d said Dr. Prasun Desai, Associate Administrator (Acting), STMD at NASA HQ. \u201cThe insights we learn will help us advance these innovative new technologies and, ultimately, pursue bolder goals in space.\u201d<\/p>\n

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https:\/\/www.engadget.com\/nasas-psyche-spacecraft-embarks-on-a-six-year-journey-to-its-asteroid-namesake-183819998.html?src=rss
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\nSource: Engadget – NASA\u2019s Psyche spacecraft embarks on a six-year journey to its asteroid namesake<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

NASA\u2019s Psyche spacecraft has blasted off and begun a six-year, 2.2-billion-mile journey to a peculiar asteroid. Astronomers have speculated that the space rock, also named Psyche, was once the partial core of a small planet in the early days of … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[99,110],"tags":[98],"class_list":["post-1192139","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-engadget","category-unfiltered-rss","tag-engadget"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prime-wow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1192139","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prime-wow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prime-wow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prime-wow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prime-wow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1192139"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.prime-wow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1192139\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prime-wow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1192139"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prime-wow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1192139"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prime-wow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1192139"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}