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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#1
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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 4 2017, 09:03 PM
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#2
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 2542 Joined: 13-September 05 Member No.: 497 |
https://sese.asu.edu/research/psyche
The Psyche Multispectral Imager is a derivative of the MSSS MSL camera: http://www.hou.usra.edu/meetings/lpsc2016/pdf/1366.pdf Mission design win #3 for that camera. -------------------- Disclaimer: This post is based on public information only. Any opinions are my own.
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Jan 4 2017, 10:12 PM
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#3
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Solar System Cartographer Group: Members Posts: 10229 Joined: 5-April 05 From: Canada Member No.: 227 |
Psyche has a Mars Flyby, and it uses a camera developed for Mars... but still I can't help feeling this thread belongs somewhere else than in the Mars section! (Also the new Lucy thread).
Phil -------------------- ... because the Solar System ain't gonna map itself.
Also to be found posting similar content on https://mastodon.social/@PhilStooke Maps for download (free PDF: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/comm...Cartography.pdf NOTE: everything created by me which I post on UMSF is considered to be in the public domain (NOT CC, public domain) |
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Jan 4 2017, 11:48 PM
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#4
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Junior Member Group: Members Posts: 71 Joined: 12-December 16 Member No.: 8089 |
Oh whoops. I guess I'm still getting used to this forum! I just saw "Past and Future" on the subforum list and posted here. I didn't realise it was inside another subforum about Mars! Haha! Could a kind mod please move this thread to the "Cometary and Asteroid Missions" subforum?
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Jan 5 2017, 02:33 AM
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Merciless Robot Group: Admin Posts: 8785 Joined: 8-December 05 From: Los Angeles Member No.: 602 |
Moved to Cometary & Asteroid Missions.
-------------------- A few will take this knowledge and use this power of a dream realized as a force for change, an impetus for further discovery to make less ancient dreams real.
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Jan 5 2017, 05:04 AM
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#6
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Junior Member Group: Members Posts: 71 Joined: 12-December 16 Member No.: 8089 |
Many thanks, kind traveller!
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Jan 5 2017, 11:33 PM
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#7
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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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Jan 6 2017, 10:23 PM
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#8
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Member Group: Members Posts: 423 Joined: 13-November 14 From: Norway Member No.: 7310 |
So maybe we'll finally get a cartoon asteroid..
(source) Given the novelty of the type of object, I find this to be a pretty interesting mission. Not quite (pre-visit) Ceres-level, but high up there. -------------------- |
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Jan 6 2017, 11:02 PM
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#9
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Junior Member Group: Members Posts: 66 Joined: 3-August 12 Member No.: 6454 |
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Jan 9 2017, 05:14 PM
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#10
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 2106 Joined: 13-February 10 From: Ontario Member No.: 5221 |
List of targets is out, along with diameter and flyby dates:
http://futureplanets.blogspot.ca/2017/01/l...d-missions.html Short times between flybys in 2025 and 2027! |
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Jan 9 2017, 05:27 PM
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#11
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 1592 Joined: 14-October 05 From: Vermont Member No.: 530 |
Those are Lucy flybys, no? I don't see any encounters for Psyche other than Psyche.
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Jan 9 2017, 06:18 PM
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#12
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 2106 Joined: 13-February 10 From: Ontario Member No.: 5221 |
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Jan 13 2017, 06:05 AM
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#13
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 1729 Joined: 3-August 06 From: 43° 35' 53" N 1° 26' 35" E Member No.: 1004 |
relevant to the mission:
Detection of Rotational Spectral Variation on the M-type asteroid (16) Psyche QUOTE The asteroid (16) Psyche is of scientific interest because it contains ~ 1% of the total mass of the asteroid belt and is thought to be the remnant metallic core of a protoplanet. Radar observations have indicated the significant presence of metal on the surface with a small percentage of silicates. Prior ground-based observations showed rotational variations in the near-infrared (NIR) spectra and radar albedo of this asteroid. However, no comprehensive study that combines multi-wavelength data has been conducted so far. Here we present rotationally resolved NIR spectra (0.7-2.5 microns) of (16) Psyche obtained with the NASA Infrared Telescope Facility. These data have been combined with shape models of the asteroid for each rotation phase. Spectral band parameters extracted from the NIR spectra show that the pyroxene band center varies from ~ 0.92 to 0.94 microns. Band center values were used to calculate the pyroxene chemistry of the asteroid, whose average value was found to be Fs30En65Wo5. Variations in the band depth were also observed, with values ranging from 1.0 to 1.5%. Using a new laboratory spectral calibration we estimated an average orthopyroxene content of 6+/-1%. The mass-deficit region of Psyche, which exhibits the highest radar albedo, also shows the highest value for spectral slope and the minimum band depth. The spectral characteristics of Psyche suggest that its parent body did not have the typical structure expected for a differentiated body or that the sequence of events that led to its current state was more complex than previously thought.
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Jan 23 2017, 10:13 PM
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#14
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Member Group: Members Posts: 495 Joined: 12-February 12 Member No.: 6336 |
Water detected on Psyche - probably transported via impacts.
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Jan 31 2017, 09:28 PM
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#15
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Junior Member Group: Members Posts: 71 Joined: 12-December 16 Member No.: 8089 |
Thoughts on the official mission insignia? It looks very pretty in my opinion! I can't help but notice that they snuck in the colours of ASU into the insignia as well!
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