Today , NASA is launching the first - ever mission to a alloy - copious asteroid . Being Friday 13 , here ’s hoping luck is on their side . The Psyche spacecraft will journey 3.5 billion kilometers ( 2.2 billion miles ) to inflict its namesake , asteroid Psyche , think to be the most expensive know asteroid .
A metal and silicate asteroid , potentially up to 60 percent of Psyche is made of metallic element . This is so much metallic element that for a long clip it was call up Psyche was the fully metallic core group of an almost - major planet that was then broken aside in collisions .
The asteroid ’s origin is now believe to be more complex but to clear this mystery , we ’ll need a spacecraft to get up close to find out . mind the spacecraft wo n’t reach Psyche the asteroid until 2029 , but then hopefully it will begin to shed its secrets .
When is the Psyche mission launching?
The current schedule is NASA ’s Psyche spacecraft will found from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy arugula today October 13 , 2023 . The launch window open at 10:19 am EDT ( 2:19 pm UTC ) .
It will go on a slow trek across the inner Solar System , evanesce by Mars in May 2026 for a gravity assist . The raid near the Red Planet will give it a cost increase to travel all the elbow room to the other boundary of the main asteroid belt , where Psyche resides .
What is the Psyche mission studying?
The spacecraft is the size of it of a small van and it is equipped with a variety of instruments to fully understand the composition of the asteroid , and with that , its origin .
The spacecraft will reach the asteroid in July 2029 with the goal of starting the science mission the following month . The primary mission will last for two year where Psyche the spacecraft will take pictures , map out the surface , and uncover the interpersonal chemistry of Psyche the asteroid .
The spacecraft has also got a side missionary station . Attached to it is a technology demonstration : NASA’sDeep Space Optical Communications . This organization aims to prove the use of laser to transmit communicating with high bandwidth beyond the orbit of the Moon . This could signify more data send back to Earth by mystifying - space missionary post . The system will be tested in the first two years of travel but wo n’t be used in the principal mission .
How to watch the Psyche mission launch today
NASA will be pelt a live launching broadcast with commentary from 9:30 am EDT ( 1:30 postmortem examination UTC ) today , October 13 . The launch windowpane opens at 10.19 am EDT ( 2:19 pm UTC ) so showtime should be around then .
you may catch the live flow onYouTube , Twitter , Facebook , Twitch , and NASA’swebsite .
“ The team has worked indefatigably to train the spacecraft for its journeying to a one - of - a - variety asteroid,”saidHenry Stone , Psyche ’s project manager at NASA ’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California .
“ All ballistic capsule systems , science instruments , and software have been integrated and extensively tested , and the spacecraft is fully configured for flight of steps . We look frontwards to the launching and – more significantly – to carry out the mission ’s objectives , marking yet another historic voyage of scientific breakthrough . ”
