Psyche

Blog Credit: Trupti Thakur

Image Courtesy: Google

Psyche

NASA is gearing up for an ambitious mission called Psyche, where a high-tech spacecraft will embark on a 2.2 billion-mile journey to explore an asteroid known as 16 Psyche. This mission, scheduled for launch on October 12, holds immense promise as it aims to delve into the mysteries of this metal-rich asteroid and gain insights into planetary cores, contributing to our understanding of Earth’s formation.

 

Asteroid 16 Psyche

Located in the outer region of the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, asteroid 16 Psyche is the focus of this mission. What makes Psyche unique is its substantial metal composition, setting it apart from previous missions that explored asteroids primarily composed of rock or ice. Scientists believe that Psyche might be a remnant of a planetary core, offering a rare opportunity to study these elusive structures.

Mission Objectives

The primary objective of the Psyche mission is to gain a comprehensive understanding of this metallic space rock. By studying Psyche up close, scientists hope to unravel its history and potentially confirm whether it was indeed a planetary core. This information could shed light on the formation processes of planets, including our own Earth.

Launch Details

Psyche is scheduled for liftoff at 10:16 a.m. EDT on October 12. It will be launched atop a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The spacecraft will embark on an extensive 2.2 billion mile journey to reach its destination.

Cutting-Edge Communication Technology

The Psyche mission will also serve as a testing ground for innovative communication technology known as Deep Space Optical Communication (DSOC). Unlike traditional radio waves, DSOC encodes data in photons at near-infrared wavelengths. This technology enables more efficient and high-speed communication between the spacecraft in deep space and Earth, enhancing data transmission capabilities.

Scientific Investigations

To prepare for the Psyche mission, scientists are conducting ground-based observations using telescopes to study the asteroid in the infrared spectrum. This research aims to identify water signatures on Psyche’s metallic surface and analyze variations in its composition across different regions.

SOFIA Contributions

In their quest for insights into Psyche, researchers are also leveraging data collected by the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA). This airborne observatory has provided valuable information that helps scientists understand differences in Psyche’s composition at various points on its surface.

 

Psyche is a planned mission to explore the origin of planetary cores by orbiting and studying the metallic asteroid 16 Psyche. Lindy Elkins-Tanton of Arizona State University is the principal investigator who proposed this mission for NASA’s Discovery Program. NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) will manage the project.

16 Psyche is the heaviest known M-type asteroid, and was once thought to be the exposed iron core of a protoplanet, the remnant of a violent collision with another object that stripped off its mantle and crust. Numerous recent studies have ruled that out. Radar observations of the asteroid from Earth indicate an iron–nickel composition. On January 4, 2017, the Psyche mission was selected for NASA’s Discovery #14 mission, and launch was scheduled for no earlier than September 20, 2022, but the Psyche launch was postponed. Psyche is scheduled to launch no earlier than October 12, 2023 atop a SpaceX Falcon Heavy.

History

Main article: Selection of Discovery Mission 13 and 14

Psyche was submitted as part of a call for proposals for NASA’s Discovery Program that closed in February 2015. It was shortlisted on September 30, 2015, as one of five finalists and awarded US$3 million for further concept development.

On January 4, 2017, Psyche was selected for the 14th Discovery mission, with launch set for 2023. In May 2017, the launch date was moved up to target a more efficient trajectory, launching in July 2022 aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy launch vehicle and arriving on January 31, 2026, following a Mars gravity assist on May 23, 2023.

In June 2022 NASA found that the late delivery of the testing equipment and flight software for the Psyche spacecraft did not give them enough time to complete the required testing, and decided to delay the launch, with future windows available in 2023 and 2024 to rendezvous with the asteroid in 2029 and 2030, respectively.

On October 28, 2022, NASA announced that Psyche was targeting a launch period opening on October 10, 2023, which would correspond with an arrival at the asteroid in August 2029.

On April 18, 2023, JPL’s mission page for Psyche was updated to reflect a new launch date of October 5, 2023. On September 28, 2023, the launch was again delayed to no earlier than October 12, 2023, due to an unspecified issue with the spacecraft.

An independent review of the delays at JPL reported in November 2022 found understaffing, insufficient planning, and communications issues among engineers and with management. The VERITAS Venus mission was delayed to free up staff to focus on Psyche.

Mission overview

The Psyche spacecraft is designed with solar electric propulsion, and the scientific payload includes a multispectral imager, a magnetometer, and a gamma-ray spectrometer.

The mission is designed to perform 21 months of science. The spacecraft was built by NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in collaboration with SSL (formerly Space Systems/Loral) and Arizona State University.

It was proposed that the rocket launch might be shared with a separate mission named Athena, that would perform a single flyby of asteroid 2 Pallas, the third-largest asteroid in the Solar System. In May 2020, it was announced that the Falcon Heavy carrying Psyche would include two smallsat secondary payloads to study the Martian atmosphere and binary asteroids, named EscaPADE (Escape and Plasma Acceleration and Dynamics Explorers) and Janus respectively, but in September 2020, the EscaPADE Mars atmosphere probe was removed from the plan. Janus was later removed from the Psyche mission as well on November 18, 2022, after an assessment determined that it would not be on the required trajectory to meet its science requirements as a result of Psyche’s new launch period.^]

Science goals and objectives

Differentiation was a fundamental process in shaping many asteroids and all terrestrial planets, and direct exploration of a core could greatly enhance understanding of this process. The Psyche mission aims to characterize 16 Psyche’s geology, shape, elemental composition, magnetic field, and mass distribution. It is expected that this mission will increase the understanding of planetary formation and interiors.

Instruments onboard of the spacecraft:
1. Hall-effect thrusters
2. Optical telecommunications system
3. Star trackers
4. Low-gain antenna
5. Sun sensor
6. X-band High-gain antenna
7. Neutron spectrometer
8. Gamma-ray spectrometer
9. Cold gas thrusters
10. -Y Panel
11. Magnetometer
12. Top deck
13. +Y Panel
14. Multispectral imagers (x2)

Specifically, the science goals for the mission are:

• Understand a previously unexplored building block of planet formation: iron cores.
• Look inside terrestrial planets, including Earth, by directly examining the interior of a differentiated body, which otherwise could not be seen.
• Explore a new type of world, made of metal.

The science objectives are:

• Determine whether 16 Psyche is a core, or if it is unmelted material.
• Determine the relative ages of regions of 16 Psyche’s surface.
• Determine whether small metal bodies incorporate the same light elements as are expected in the Earth’s high-pressure core.
• Determine whether 16 Psyche was formed under conditions more oxidizing or more reducing than Earth’s core.
• Characterize 16 Psyche’s topography.

The science questions this mission aims to address are:

• Is 16 Psyche the stripped core of a differentiated planetesimal, or was it formed as an iron-rich body? What were the building blocks of planets? Did planetesimals that formed close to the Sun have very different bulk compositions?
• If 16 Psyche was stripped of its mantle, when and how did that occur?
• If 16 Psyche was once molten, did it solidify from the inside out, or the outside in?
• Did 16 Psyche produce a magnetic dynamo as it cooled?
• What are the major alloy elements that coexist in the iron metal of the core?
• What are the key characteristics of the geologic surface and global topography? Does 16 Psyche look radically different from known stony and icy bodies?
• How do craters on a metal body differ from those in rock or ice?

Instruments

Psyche will fly a payload of 30 kg (66 lb), consisting of four scientific instruments:

• The multispectral imager will provide high-resolution images using filters to discriminate between metallic and silicate constituents.
• The gamma ray and neutron spectrometer will analyze and map the asteroid’s elemental composition.
• The magnetometer will measure and map the remnant magnetic field of the asteroid.
• The X-band Gravity Science Investigation will use the X-band (microwave) radio telecommunications system to measure the asteroid’s gravity field and deduce its interior structure.

Spacecraft

The spacecraft bus is the Space Systems Loral (SSL) 1300 platform. JPL added the command and data handling and telecom subsystems and all flight software.

 

 

Blog By: Trupti Thakur