Editor’s note: Sign up for CNN’s Wonder Theory science newsletter. Explore the universe with news on fascinating discoveries, scientific advancements and more. (CNN) — For the first time, a NASA mission is setting off on a distant journey to visit a metal world in our solar system. Getting up close with the asteroid known as Psyche...
NASA’s Psyche mission aims to lift off October 12 — and be the first to explore a metal-rich asteroid that may be the exposed core of an early planetary building block.
The metal-rich asteroid is in the main asteroid belt between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. The namesake Psyche spacecraft is expected to lift off Thursday.have traveled to near-Earth asteroids that could potentially collide with Earth, but Psyche poses no threat to our planet. The giant space rock is about 235 million to 309 million miles from the sun.
The asteroid was discovered by Italian astronomer Annibale de Gasparis on March 17, 1852. Named for the Greek goddess of the soul, Psyche is the largest M-type, or metallic, asteroid in our system. Radar and telescope observations of Psyche have revealed that the asteroid likely contains iron and trace amounts of nickel and other metals, all of which are abundant in the solar system, Landsman said. But the asteroid’s density suggests it isn’t made of solid metal. Psyche also appears to contain some rocky material and silicate, or the material detected in glass and sand.
“Every time a new study of Psyche is published, it raises more questions,” said Anicia Arredondo, lead author of a new paper on Psycheand postdoctoral researcher at the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio. Scientists believe that studying Psyche could help them address key questions about planet formation. Earth, Mercury and Mars have metallic cores, but they are too deep below their planets’ rocky shells to be seen or studied directly.
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