2023-10-17 19:00:00
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Last Friday, October 13, 2023, NASA successfully launched its new mission aimed at a peculiar asteroid which orbits the Sun between Mars and Jupiter.
At the probe Psyche has been launched from the Kennedy Space Center, in Florida, using the Space X Falcon Heavy rocket and has already left the Earth’s atmosphere, beginning a long interplanetary journey that will last 6 years and during which it will travel more than 350 million kilometers.
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The asteroid has been observed with ground and space telescopes for approximately a decade, and its irregular shape and diameter of around 200 kilometers stand out, being one of the largest known of its kind.
It is in 2015 when NASA selects the Psyche mission, then in an initial study phase, to develop and consider it for the Discovery Program. A team of scientists and engineers, among others, led by Lindy Elkins-Tanton worked on the study, which was finally approved in 2017.
From then on, the design process of the spacecraft and the necessary instruments begins so that it can complete its mission, which culminated with its launch this October.
What will the journey to psyche be like?
After leaving Earth, the ship will begin a recognition period 100 days before firing its thrusters, to ensure that all its components work optimally. It will then begin its journey towards the final destination, passing close to Mars in 2026 to get a gravitational boost, and reaching the asteroid Psyche in 2029.
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NASA hopes that in August 2029 the probe will begin a period of orbits around the asteroid which will last 26 months, and during which you will be able to take photographs and collect data on the surface and composition of the celestial body using various technologies, such as a multispectral imager and spectrometers.
AN INNOVATIVE MISSION
The goal of this mission is to study a particular asteroid, 16 Psyche, whose distinctive feature is its predominantly metallic composition which could contain up to 60% nickel and iron, unlike most asteroids which are composed of rocks and ice.
Extensive geological and astronomical research carried out over decades indicates that many planets, including Earth, have a core that has metallic elements. However, these cores remain unreachable directly.
Therefore, it is not only the extraordinary richness of its materials that intrigues NASA scientists, but the possibility that this asteroid is, in reality, the nucleus of a primitive planet that has lost its outer layers or that it never finished forming. If so, its study could reveal many of the enigmas of the Solar System related to the formation of planets and their magnetic fields.
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