19-Jan-2017: NASA approves Psyche mission to explore iron-rich asteroid "16 Psyche".
NASA is working to send a spacecraft to explore iron-rich asteroid that may help scientists to better understand the formation of solar system.
The mission has been named 'Psyche', which will focus on the asteroid called '16 Psyche' thought to be made of iron and nickel. It could perhaps be a part of what was an earlier planet as large as Mars.
The mission will be launched in October 2023 and will arrive at the asteroid in 2030, following an Earth gravity assist spacecraft manoeuver in 2024 and a Mars flyby in 2025.
16 Psyche is the only known object of its kind in the solar system. It is nearly three times farther away from the sun than is the Earth. The asteroid measures about 210 kilometres in diameter.
Scientists believe that the asteroid might have lost its outer core through a series of collisions and the mission could shed light on how planets and other masses broke up into cores, mantles and crusts years ago.
5-Jan-2017: Lucy and Psyche to explore early Solar System
Aiming to find important clues to the earliest history of the solar system, NASA has announced two missions — one to explore Jupiter’s mysterious Trojan asteroids and the other to study a unique metal asteroid.
These two missions, Lucy and Psyche, are chosen from five finalists and will proceed to mission formulation, with the goal of launching in 2021 and 2023, respectively.
Lucy mission:
Lucy will visit a target-rich environment of Jupiter’s mysterious Trojan asteroids. It is a robotic spacecraft scheduled for launch on October 2021. It is slated to arrive at its first destination, a main belt asteroid, in 2025. From 2027 to 2033, Lucy will explore six Jupiter Trojan asteroids. These asteroids are trapped by Jupiter’s gravity in two swarms that share the planet’s orbit, one leading and one trailing Jupiter in its 12-year circuit around the sun. The Trojans are thought to be relics of a much earlier era in the history of the solar system, and may have formed far beyond Jupiter’s current orbit. This is a unique opportunity because the Trojans are remnants of the primordial material that formed the outer planets, they hold vital clues to deciphering the history of the solar system. Lucy, like the human fossil for which it is named, will revolutionize the understanding of our origins.
Psyche mission:
The Psyche mission will explore one of the most intriguing targets in the main asteroid belt – a giant metal asteroid, known as 16 Psyche, about three times farther away from the sun than is the Earth. This asteroid measures about 130 miles (210 kilometers) in diameter and, unlike most other asteroids that are rocky or icy bodies, is thought to be comprised mostly of metallic iron and nickel, similar to Earth’s core. The mission will help scientists understand how planets and other bodies separated into their layers – including cores, mantles and crusts – early in their histories. Psyche, also a robotic mission, is targeted to launch in October of 2023, arriving at the asteroid in 2030, following an Earth gravity assist spacecraft maneuver in 2024 and a Mars flyby in 2025.