1
00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:03,378


2
00:00:03,378 --> 00:00:07,799
Psyche is a unique
object in the solar system.

3
00:00:07,799 --> 00:00:11,302
To us, Psyche is this really
unusual body giving off

4
00:00:11,302 --> 00:00:14,222
really unusual gamma ray
neutron signatures.

5
00:00:14,222 --> 00:00:17,892
Technically, it's an
M-class asteroid out between

6
00:00:17,892 --> 00:00:19,686
Mars and Jupiter.

7
00:00:24,357 --> 00:00:26,359
One of the first
things you want to know is

8
00:00:26,359 --> 00:00:28,153
what it's made of.

9
00:00:28,153 --> 00:00:31,281
So, the Psyche payload
consists of three

10
00:00:31,281 --> 00:00:32,699
science instruments.

11
00:00:32,699 --> 00:00:36,786
One of them is what's called a
Gamma Ray Neutron Spectrometer.

12
00:00:36,786 --> 00:00:40,457
It's actually two
separate pieces of hardware.

13
00:00:40,457 --> 00:00:42,333
One is the Gamma Ray
Spectrometer, and the other

14
00:00:42,333 --> 00:00:44,085
one is the
Neutron Spectrometer.

15
00:00:44,085 --> 00:00:49,090
Both combined study the
elemental composition of Psyche.

16
00:00:49,090 --> 00:00:51,551
If you know the surface
composition, what it's made of

17
00:00:51,551 --> 00:00:54,929
in terms of iron, and nickel,
and silicon and oxygen,

18
00:00:54,929 --> 00:00:57,932
you can then start to say
something about its history,

19
00:00:57,932 --> 00:01:00,477
and how it formed,
and how it evolved.

20
00:01:00,477 --> 00:01:05,023
By using gamma ray spectroscopy,
we can measure those elements

21
00:01:05,023 --> 00:01:06,316
remotely.

22
00:01:06,316 --> 00:01:07,901
We don't have to
touch the surface.

23
00:01:07,901 --> 00:01:11,029
We don't have to
dig into the surface.

24
00:01:11,029 --> 00:01:14,324
For Psyche, we're building kind
of what we call the Cadillac.

25
00:01:14,324 --> 00:01:17,869
It's a very high precision,
high sensitivity instrument.

26
00:01:17,869 --> 00:01:20,121
It's very similar to
the Messenger instrument.

27
00:01:20,121 --> 00:01:22,916
The technology that we
developed for the Messenger

28
00:01:22,916 --> 00:01:27,045
spacecraft gave us a huge
head start going to Psyche.

29
00:01:27,045 --> 00:01:29,297
For our types of instruments,
we don't get to fly them

30
00:01:29,297 --> 00:01:30,256
very often.

31
00:01:30,256 --> 00:01:32,175
So, when we actually get
selected for something,

32
00:01:32,175 --> 00:01:34,886
that's a big deal for us,
where we can, you know,

33
00:01:34,886 --> 00:01:37,347
take what we learned from the
prior missions, and implement

34
00:01:37,347 --> 00:01:41,643
it now and make an
even better instrument.

35
00:01:41,643 --> 00:01:47,649
Our instrument is kind of like a
camera without a telephoto lens.

36
00:01:47,649 --> 00:01:49,984
In order to get our best
measurements, we need to be

37
00:01:49,984 --> 00:01:53,154
relatively close
altitude above the surface.

38
00:01:53,154 --> 00:01:55,448
That's what we call Orbit D.

39
00:01:55,448 --> 00:01:59,452
So, we can form maps,
global maps of the elemental

40
00:01:59,452 --> 00:02:04,499
composition of Psyche just
by flying around externally.

41
00:02:04,499 --> 00:02:07,043
You have galactic cosmic rays.

42
00:02:07,043 --> 00:02:10,797
That's a fancy word
for very fast protons.

43
00:02:10,797 --> 00:02:13,633
They come in.
They smack a planetary surface.

44
00:02:13,633 --> 00:02:16,719
They bust apart
the atoms in that surface.

45
00:02:16,719 --> 00:02:20,306
All the neutrons rattle around,
and as they rattle around,

46
00:02:20,306 --> 00:02:24,853
they end up producing gamma
rays and neutrons that come out,

47
00:02:24,853 --> 00:02:27,355
and the gamma rays have
energies and they're like a

48
00:02:27,355 --> 00:02:30,066
fingerprint. So, if you
get the fingerprint of different

49
00:02:30,066 --> 00:02:33,111
energies that says; Is iron
there?, Is nickel there?,

50
00:02:33,111 --> 00:02:35,947
Is silicon?, and then, how
many of those gamma rays tells

51
00:02:35,947 --> 00:02:37,782
you how much of
that element is there.

52
00:02:39,534 --> 00:02:41,995
The first thing it takes
to do a mission like this is

53
00:02:41,995 --> 00:02:45,790
a tremendous amount of
institutional knowledge of all

54
00:02:45,790 --> 00:02:48,209
the different aspects- not just
how do you build something,

55
00:02:48,209 --> 00:02:51,671
how do you aim something,
how do you guide something,

56
00:02:51,671 --> 00:02:53,673
how do you get data from
something, those technical

57
00:02:53,673 --> 00:02:54,591
aspects.

58
00:02:54,591 --> 00:02:57,677
I feel like it's super important
to have a team that you can

59
00:02:57,677 --> 00:03:01,472
trust, because you can guarantee
that at some point something's

60
00:03:01,472 --> 00:03:04,142
going to go wrong, probably
many things over the many years

61
00:03:04,142 --> 00:03:05,101
of a project,

62
00:03:05,101 --> 00:03:08,563
So, already it's happened that
in my process of learning about 

63
00:03:08,563 --> 00:03:12,442
the science I've made small
changes to the design to help

64
00:03:12,442 --> 00:03:14,861
optimize and help
meet the science goals.

65
00:03:14,861 --> 00:03:17,405
We're kind of the last
instrument to get its

66
00:03:17,405 --> 00:03:18,156
measurements.

67
00:03:18,156 --> 00:03:20,700
And so, there is a sense
where you're on pins and needles

68
00:03:20,700 --> 00:03:23,036
until you get that data back,
and then there's a big relief,

69
00:03:23,036 --> 00:03:25,496
a big excitement.
And then you get to work and

70
00:03:25,496 --> 00:03:27,165
try and say,
“what does all this mean?”

71
00:03:27,165 --> 00:03:31,419
So, we'll deliver some
excellent science at the end.