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The value of all the nickel and iron that, according to NASA, constitutes the unusual-shaped space rock of 16 Psyche in the confines of the asteroid belt is estimated at 10,000 quadrillion dollars. It's a huge amount, but NASA's Psyche mission, which has just been approved to enter the final stages of development before the start of manufacturing for its launch in 2022, is actually targeting a much larger price – revealing the origins of the Earth. NASA researchers believe that the psyche of asteroids is essential to understanding how planetary bodies are formed.
Indeed, space scientists theorize that Psyche is really the core of a planet that has broken down as a result of apocalyptic collisions.
NASA experts hope to be able to observe the distant past of the solar system, when the protoplanet encounters created the Earth and destroyed other terrestrial planets.
These resemble those floating remains between Mars and Jupiter.
Professor Lindy Elkins-Tanton of Arizona State University, principal investigator of the study, said, "With the move to this new phase of mission, we are about to unveil the secrets of Psyche, a giant and mysterious metallic asteroid that's up to us. "
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There are still three planning phases of the mission that the Psyche team needs to clarify.
The last phase begins in early 2021 and includes the final manufacture and testing of the spacecraft, in anticipation of the launch scheduled for 2022.
And the final phase will take place as soon as Psyche's exploratory craft explodes, NASA said.
This will cover operations in the deep space of the Psyche mission and data collection for science.
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NASA predicts that Psyche will arrive on the eponymous asteroid on January 31, 2026 after skimming Mars in 2023.
It has been two years since SpaceX CEO Elon Musk did not anticipate the arrival of the first human astronauts.
The instruments of Psyche's craft will include a magnetometer designed to detect and measure the remaining magnetic field of the asteroid.
A multispectral imager will be on board to provide high resolution images for determining the composition of the asteroid.
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Psyche will also include a gamma and neutron spectrometer to measure and map the elemental composition of the asteroid, as well as advanced laster technology designed for long-distance space communications.
The mission, part of NASA's discovery program, is being conducted in collaboration with Maxar Space Solutions, which supplies the power-driven chassis, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Arizona State University.
Psyche offers the opportunity to inspect and study a planetary kernel closely.
The psyche seems to be the exposed iron-nickel core of a proto-planet, a small world at the beginning of the solar system's history, but never having reached the size of the planet, much like Vesta and Ceres, explored by the NASA Dawn spacecraft.
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