Psyche, Discovery Mission 14 - a visit to the metallic asteroid, 16 Psyche |
Psyche, Discovery Mission 14 - a visit to the metallic asteroid, 16 Psyche |
Jan 4 2017, 08:24 PM
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Junior Member Group: Members Posts: 71 Joined: 12-December 16 Member No.: 8089 |
#psychedforpsyche! Psyche has been selected by NASA as the 14th Discovery program mission, after Lucy. The mission aims to send a spacecraft in orbit around the M-type asteroid 16 Psyche, a metallic world theorized to be the exposed iron core of a former protoplanet the size of Mars. The spacecraft will launch in October 2023, with planned gravity assists of Earth in 2024 and Mars in 2025. It will arrive at 16 Psyche in 2030. The mission is led by the Arizona State University and Principal investigator Lindy Elkins-Tanton.
Be sure to check out the new subreddit, r/psychemission, as well! |
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Jan 5 2017, 11:33 PM
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Junior Member Group: Members Posts: 66 Joined: 3-August 12 Member No.: 6454 |
Linda Elkins-Tanton asks in "PSYCHE AND SPACECRAFT 20161026":
QUOTE Artist Peter Rubin and scientist Lindy Elkins-Tanton collaborate with Space Systems Loral and JPL to envision what orbiting the metal world Psyche might be like. Pallasite contraction scarps, sulfur lava flows, frozen ejecta towers...what do you think might be there? https://youtu.be/zTBfNQXSbJo I answer, QUOTE Good question ! I would expect the impact craters to be relatively shallow, BUT due to the unusual stiffness of Psyche, there should be massive spalling on the opposite side. Not sure what THAT looks like, on such a large scale. Having looked at photos of spalling effects on Google image search, the most interesting ones are those with a "detached spall". It would be really neat if Psyche found a loose one lying on the surface of the asteroid ! |
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