- SWNS
Florida – The United Nations National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has finally set a new date for a highly anticipated space mission to a large, metal-rich asteroid.
The mission was originally scheduled for August 2022. The journey to Asteroid 16 Psyche will cover 280 million miles on a spacecraft that will launch from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, USA between October 5-25, 2022.
The trip to this rare and unique asteroid was delayed due to project and institutional issues at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). Both issues have reportedly been resolved.
Asteroid 16 Psyche.
- Science Times
"The independent review board was very impressed with the total organizational achievement of JPL and Caltech. The engagement and leadership in the overall response process by the JPL director and senior leadership was considered 'world class,'" NASA's JPL wrote in its official report.
Named after the Greek goddess of the soul, Psyche was first discovered by Italian astronomer Annibale de Gasparis in 1852.
Made mostly of iron, nickel, gold and other rare metals, the asteroid orbits the Sun between Mars and Jupiter. It measures 140 miles wide and is shaped like a potato, according to astronomers.
Psyche is said to be worth US$10 thousand quadrillion more than the entire economy of Earth. Scientists believe that Asteroid Psyche could be the exposed metal core of a newly formed planetesimal or planet, which lost its rocky outer layers in a violent collision during the early formation of the solar system.
A mission to Asteroid Psyche would be NASA's first visit to a world rich in metal, rather than rock or ice. The spacecraft is expected to reach the asteroid in August 2029 and orbit it for 26 months.
"Because we can't see or measure Earth's core directly, scientists hope studying Asteroid Psyche up close can provide new insights into our planet's interior and the history of the solar system," NASA's JPL said.
