It is reported that Arizona State University is responsible for leading the Psyche mission. JPL, administered by Caltech for NASA, is responsible for overall mission management, systems engineering, integration and testing, and mission operations. Maxar Technologies, based in Palo Alto, California, provided the chassis for the high-power solar-electric propulsion spacecraft.
There aren’t many celestial objects in our solar system that we haven’t seen up close with a spacecraft. And the remaining one is a metallic asteroid. 16 Psyche is an asteroid orbiting the sun, between Mars and Jupiter. What makes Psyche unique is that it is rich in metals.
It is thought that it may have been the remnant core of an early asteroid and formed in a very, very early part of the solar system’s formation.
After the planet began to form, this metallic core formed inside, collided with other objects, and stripped off the rocky mantle, leaving the core behind.
This is the part of the planet that humans cannot directly sample today.
The planet is too hot and the pressure is too high, which would cause the instruments to melt. And humans can’t drill a hole that deep in Earth or any other planet. So how exactly do we study the core of our planet? Psyche provides access to the core, the only way humans can. And it will be the first metal object ever visited by humans.
It is understood that NASA has been approved to travel to this planet in August 2022. It will take years to get there.
A gravity assist is provided after the Mars flyby, and then the propulsion system is used to slowly climb. In early 2026, the craft will arrive there.
It is understood that the vehicle will enter four concentric small orbits to collect the necessary measurements required by the three main instruments. Therefore, the payload includes several imagers, the cameras that take pictures of Psyche.
There is also a gamma-ray neutron spectrometer, which allows one to measure the elemental composition of Psyche’s surface.
Then there’s a magnetometer, which will allow the team to detect any magnetic fields left in Psyche.
If Psyche still has some sort of remnant magnetic field, that might tell people it really is a core. This is a strong indicator.
In addition, the research team will use the radio on the spacecraft as an instrument, so they can map gravity and internal structure in this way.
Right now, the research team is using a special thruster technology, the alifax thruster technology. They operate five times more efficiently than regular rockets, so they use far less fuel.
Solar electric propulsion has been around for quite some time, it has flown before, but now it is continuing to push the boundaries. It is understood that the spacecraft will have a large five foldable solar panels to power the thrusters, which use the noble gas xenon as propellant.
It is reported that this will be the first time the Halifax thruster has flown in deep space.
