NASA will let people revisit their past and the very core of evolution with the help of two new missions, which are known as Lucy and Psyche.
The missions will cost $450 million as shared by NASA in January and will help answer several queries about the solar system. One of the missions, called Psyche, is slated for a launch in the coming years and will send a solar-propelled craft to study the 16 Psyche asteroid.
The Mission: Psyche
Psyche is expected to launch by 2023. It is believed that the mission Psyche will give mankind an opportunity to gain an insight into how the formation of the Earth's core took place. It will also give an idea of the formation of the early galaxy.
The spacecraft will have several instruments on board, which will aid in analyzing and assessing the 16 Psyche asteroid's properties. The analysis will, in turn, offer scientists clues to the composition, as well as the process of Earth's core's formation.
Asteroid 16 Psyche
Any planetary body rotating around the sun is made of ice, gas or rocks and it is only on Earth that one can get big chunks of metal that are surprisingly similar to the element of the 16 Psyche. This asteroid is primarily composed of metal.
This giant metal asteroid lies between Mars and Jupiter. Measuring about 130 miles in diameter, the 16 Psyche is nearly three times farther away from the sun when compared to the earth. The asteroid is believed to be composed of elements similar to nickel and metallic iron, which are akin to the Earth's core.
Science has said that it is due to a collision that planets were built in the early solar system and the 16 Psyche is considered to be the core of an initial planet.
Exploring New Worlds
In January, NASA announced that a solar-propelled craft will be sent to study this asteroid. It is expected that in-depth details will be gained through the Psyche mission by analyzing the compositions of the asteroid and whether it has a magnetic field or not.
The spectrometers on the spacecraft will try to get a crystal clear view of the elements of 16 Psyche asteroid by studying the gamma rays and the neutrons it emits. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) director Mike Watkins is very excited about the mission, believing that it will be a great experience as this journey will help comprehend the role of asteroids in our solar system.
"This is an opportunity to explore a new type of world - not one of rock or ice, but of metal. 16 Psyche is the only known object of its kind in the solar system, and this is the only way humans will ever visit a core. We learn about inner space by visiting outer space," noted Lindy Elkins-Tanton, Principal Investigator of Psyche in January, at the time of the announcement.
