A NASA mission aims to be the first in the history of space exploration to explore an object in space that is not made of rock or ice.
Set to launch in August 2022, the Psyche mission will explore a metal-rich asteroid of the same name that lies in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.Inside a giant, white clean room on the campus of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, engineers and scientists have been putting the finishing touches on a spacecraft that, this time next year if all goes according to plan, will be on its way to another world.
Lindy Elkins-Tanton is a planetary scientist, a professor, and the vice president of the Arizona State University Interplanetary Initiative. She is also the principal investigator of the Psyche mission. It is her project that she has spent a decade proposing and planning. Now final mission plans are underway while the spacecraft is being built by scientists at JPL.
Scientists believe Psyche might be the exposed core of an early planet. It could answer how planets are born and exactly what metals are in Earth’s core.NASA's Psyche spacecraft is depicted in this March, 2021 illustration. Set to launch in August 2022, the Psyche mission will explore a metal-rich asteroid of the same name that lies in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.
“So they know how to do Earth orbiters. What we needed to do though is figure out how we are going to take that big bus structure and fly it to deep space,” JPL Project Manager Henry Stone, who is in charge of getting Psyche built and ready to fly in time for launch next year, told ABC News.The Psyche spacecraft undergoes a system integration and test in a clean room at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, Aug,. 18, 2021.
South Africa Latest News, South Africa Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
NASA, SpaceX Launch DART: First Test Mission to Defend Planet EarthNASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART), the world’s first full-scale mission to test technology for defending Earth against potential asteroid or comet hazards, launched Wednesday at 1:21 a.m. EST on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex 4 East at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.
Read more »
NASA investigating first allegation of crime in spaceAnne McClain, a decorated astronaut who was slotted to be a part of the first-ever all-female spacewalk, was accused of accessing her estranged wife's bank account while aboard the International Space Station
Read more »
Jenna Maroney Inherited the EarthThe spirit of 30 Rock’s shameless attention seeker is everywhere—from Shawn and Camilla to Dear Evan Hansen
Read more »
How Earth might be saved if an asteroid was headed straight for usNASA's upcoming DART mission plans to hit an asteroid with a spacecraft to test Earth's defenses. But our chances of deflecting an asteroid depends on how much warning time we have.
Read more »
At NASA, Open And Trusted Leadership Is As Important As Technical ProwessNASA's chief data officer explains how moving up the corporate ladder means being able to speak in business terms. It’s equally important to be an empathetic and servant leader.
Read more »