Welcome
to another episode
of NASA's Science Live.
An opportunity
for you to interact
with NASA experts
and have your questions
answered in real time.
I'm your host,
Raquel Villanueva
And today
we are going to talk
about NASA's Psyche mission.
If you have questions
throughout today's show,
you can send them
in using the hashtag.
Ask NASA on social media
or drop them
into the comment box
wherever you're watching.
The psyche spacecraft
is preparing
to launch October 5th
to explore a unique asteroid.
Also called psyche,
orbiting the sun
between Mars and Jupiter.
Scientists
believe the asteroid
may consist
of a significant amount
of nickel iron metal
mixed with rock.
It could contain metal
from the core of
what is called a planetesimal,
which is a building
block of an early rocky planet.
Psyche may offer
a unique window
into the violent
history of collisions
that created
terrestrial planets like Earth.
I am joined today
by two psyche mission experts
who are going to help
answer your questions
about the journey
to a metal rich asteroid.
Dr.
Carver Bierson
is a psyche post-doc
at Arizona State University.
Welcome. CARVER
Thank you so much
for having me.
And Dr.
Rhona Oran is the psyche
magnetometer investigation
scientist at Massachusetts
Institute of Technology.
Welcome, Rona.
Excited to be here.
Thank you both
so much for joining us
to chat about this mission.
Now, I have a question for you
both to start.
This is the first time
we are sending a spacecraft
to see a metal rich asteroid.
What do you think
we will discover about psyche?
We'll start with Carver.
Yeah.
I mean,
one of the exciting things
about going to a type of world
we've never been to before
is there's
so many new types of things
you might find that
we've never seen.
For example,
some people talked
about the possibility
of maybe
there's ion volcanism,
ion volcanoes on psyche
and we just don't know
if they're there or not
until we arrive.
It's exciting to see
what we might find.
Rona, what about you?
Yes, Psyche is indeed
a very unique object
that we've never
explored before,
and there are
many open questions.
The more we look at it
through telescopes,
the less we know
what kind of body is it?
Less it fits into our mold
of what planets
type of planetary
bodies are made up
and unique to.
The magnetometer investigation
that I'm involved in
is that psyche presents
the possibility to be
the first ever detection
of a magnetized asteroid.
So all asteroid we visited
before were not magnetized
and made of rock
because psyche's metal rich.
It may actually
be magnetized out now.
Speaking of metal rich cover,
if we haven't visited
this asteroid yet,
how do we know that
it may be the exposed nickel
iron core of an early planetary
building block?
What observations have
contributed to this theory?
Yeah, there's two big ones.
One is
we can look at the mass
of the density of psyche
that tells us something
about what's composed of.
And the other is looking
at how
light and particular radio
waves bounce off the surface.
That indicates that there's
definitely some metal
at the surface.
We don't know
how much is metal.
There might still be
some rock mixed in,
but there's definitely
some amount of metal
at the surface of psyche.
And Rona, what could studying
psyche teach us
about Earth's own metal core?
Yes.
So our core is also man
made of metal,
and we assume it has
a lot of heavy metals in it,
but it's so deep
inside the earth
that we actually have no chance
of ever revisiting it.
So while we do know
that we have a core,
we don't know
exactly how it formed,
when it formed,
how we generated
the magnetic field
that we have that protects us
from the space environment.
And so visiting psyche
would actually be
the first time humans,
and probably
the only time humans
will ever have a chance
to visit the core.
Wow.
Well, we have some
questions coming in
from viewers watching out line.
Remember,
you can submit
using the hashtag.
Ask NASA
or by posting them
in the comments section
wherever you are
watching today.
So let's get to
some of these questions.
Our first is from Swizzway,
I hope I'm saying that
right on Facebook.
Who wants to know
what caused the asteroid belt
and what broke up the planets?
Carver,
do you want to start with that?
Sure.
So the asteroid
belt, in one sense,
is kind of
the leftover materials
from planet formation.
So you have a bunch of material
that as the solar system
was forming
and lots of small bits of rock
and ice
and mostly rock in the inner
solar system coming together
to build the planets
in between Mars and Jupiter.
Have these leftover bits,
some of them formed
into larger planetesimals
that then would have impacted
into each other,
scattering apart,
breaking into smaller pieces.
And it could be
that psyche
was one of those larger
planetesimals
that had a big impact
like this.
And so it's just the core
that's leftover
for us to go visit. Now
has a great answer.
Now, Kalyan
asks,
Once you get an accurate
size of psyche,
do you think you'll be able
to have a good estimate
of the size of the parent body?
Rhona Carver
I don't know
which one
wants to take that question.
That's an excellent question.
It's a very,
very creative question.
So, yeah,
so what we can tell
when you see a rock
expose in space,
you can tell from
the mineralogy
how much pressure
it sustained in
the Western temperatures
it was created in.
So you can kind of estimate
what pressure to be that way
and what pressure
that is,
the overlaying layers
of the planet
like we have momentum in the
and the crust.
So if you look at the rocks,
you can actually estimate
what they created under
a lot of pressure.
If so, they were created
in a bigger planet.
And Rhoda, we have another
question coming in for you.
Ravi on ex
asks, Is Psyche
a remnant of
the core of a protoplanet?
Um,
I think the definition
of a protoplanet
on planetesimal
or kind of like it
depends on how you look at it.
So it's basically
if it is a remnant of a core,
it is a remnant of the body
that grew and grew and grew
and started forming a core.
But then something
happened to it.
That's stopped that and create
and stopped it
from being an actual planet
like the other planets
that we see
that are nice and round
and have a soil, etc..
So it is a remnant of something
that was starting to become
a planet. If it is core
now Carver, would you
like to add to that?
No, I think that was
a great answer.
Perfect.
Now let's move on to Juan
Pablo Hernandez on YouTube,
who asks,
How will the mission
show us what psyche looks like
and will we take samples
from it?
Carver
I can hand that one to you.
Yeah.
So the psyche
mission is not going
to take samples of the surface,
and instead we're going to use
a host
of different instruments
to look at it
while we're orbiting
the asteroid.
So we have two cameras
that are going to take images
in different wavelengths.
We have a gamma ray
and neutron spectrometer
that's going
to give us more information
about what that surface is
made out of.
And we're going to do
gravity science as well
with the main antenna
essentially looking at exactly
how mass is distributed
across the surface
of the satellite.
Thank you.
And, you
know, people
are tuning in live right now,
and we've touched on this
a little bit.
But for those of you
just joining us, let's
answer a Nando's question.
How did you conclude that
this asteroid may give clues
to Rocky planet formation?
Don't Dodo
Rona,
would you like
to take that one?
Sure.
So 99% of the asteroid I see in
the asteroid
belt are made of rock.
And the old asteroid
that we visited
are made of rock
and actually metallic asteroid,
something that we call m-class
asteroids is something
that we haven't really seen.
We see them as really,
really little dots.
We haven't visited them
by spacecraft.
But as Carver mentioned before,
they do reflect the light
in a certain way
that they
reflect
electromagnetic radiation
in a certain way
that suggests
that they are shiny.
They're like a metal.
So we know that they consist of
a lot of metal in them.
We don't know exactly
how it looks like is it's
the big chunk of metal.
Is metal mixed with rock.
But from that we know
that they are very special
because most of the material in
the universe is not iron
and is not nickel.
So if you have a big clump
of that material
all tied together,
it's most likely was created
inside a planet
where everything
sank to the bottom.
And in order
for that to happen,
that is that information
where you have
a lot of material
coming together
and forming a core
and then a mental and a trust.
And we've been talking
about metal, but Rogerville T as
what kind of minerals is NASA
expecting in psyche?
Can we expand on that as well?
Rona?
I may defer this to cover more.
All right. Carver.
Yeah,
I'm not sure exactly
what minerals
we're going to find, in part
because we don't know exactly
what that rocky
component of psyche
is at this point.
And that's one of the things
that we want to learn
when we get there
and use
our imaging cameras
and spectrometers that
bring with.
Great answer.
And Juan Pablo
Hernandez on YouTube
wants to know
how long will the mission be
and will
the probe
tell us how psyche was formed?
Do I take that one again?
Sure.
So it's going to
take the mission
about five years to get there.
So the spacecraft
is going to arrive at Psyche
in August of 2029.
And we're
to spend a little over
two years in orbit
at different levels, slowly
getting closer and closer
to the asteroid.
Learning more as we descend.
And what was the second
half of that question?
How will it tell us
how psyche was formed at?
A lot of that's going to be
in really learning
what psyche is.
As we said, you know, there's
right now
there's so much we don't know.
We know
there's some amount of metal,
but knowing what
how much metal,
how much rock is there?
How were they mixed together
or not on the surface?
And what's the details
of that chemistry?
That's what we're those are
the clues we're going to use
to try and figure out
how psyche formed
right now.
Rona Carver We
have a bit of a longer
question coming
in, so I'm going
to need your help
deciding who's
going to answer this one
for wins on X asks
How do gaseous elements
settle during
planetary formation,
influencing
planetary structures
and phenomena?
How does the distribution
contribute to diverse
planetary characteristics
across our solar system?
Okay, so when we look
at the solar systems
being born,
we actually don't just see gas.
We see gas and dust.
And that's really important
when you have those
tiny grains of dust.
And at some point
in our solar system,
we know that around 4.6
billion years ago,
we formed what
we call the first solids.
So if you look at the universe,
when it creates
stars, it's only gas.
But at some point
our solar system starts
creating little solids
that you can still see
in meteorites
that fall to the earth
that nothing touched them.
You can actually see them
just as they were.
And from that point on,
you can think about
a lot of grains,
just like sticking together,
have billions of
years to do that.
And then slowly you
start to form the planets.
So depending on
what kind of dust
mixture you start with,
that would
determine what kind of planet
you're going to form.
So if you have almost
no metal around,
you will have less metal in the
in those grains
that you would create.
And we also see
that our planets
really, really change
the way you sample.
If you look at the planet,
they are close to the sun
like Venus and Mercury
and Mars and us.
There are terrestrial planets,
while the planets
that are further out from
the sun
have our gaseous
giants like Jupiter and Saturn.
So all of those things
really have
this diversity of planets,
as you mentioned.
And it really depends
where you will find,
when you will find
what was around
you when you were formed.
Thank you.
Rhona and I have
another question for you.
Ding Panda on YouTube is asking
being a metal world
with Magna properties
or possible
magnetic properties,
what possible interferences
are being planned for already?
Excellent question.
Okay.
So we are really,
really excited
about the opportunity
to discover
that psyche is magnetized.
We don't know if it is,
so we really plan the mission,
the instruments we worked
with, the engineering teams
and everyone
to really make sure
that if
there is a magnetic
field in those rocks,
we will be able to measure it.
So we are planning on actually
detecting the disturbances
as small as they can be
that we can actually
detect them.
On the other hand,
there is a possibility
that psyche will
be very magnetized
and then it will form
a cocoon around it,
what we call the magnetosphere,
which is basically the area
around the body
as it's shielded by its own
magnetic field and shields
out of this space
radiation and space particles.
So this all
spacecraft are actually built
with shielding
on their instruments
and on their hall
in order
to protect them
from space radiation
and from external assembly
that builds.
So we've already made sure
that if psyche is
magnetized,
we're not going
to damage the spacecraft.
Thank you.
Both have been offering
some great insights so far.
We have some more questions
to get to.
Luis Pava on YouTube asks,
When is the mission
launching
and on what rocket is it
going to be launched on Cava?
Do you have an idea?
Yeah.
So the plan is to launch
on October 5th
and it's
going to be
launching on a space
X Falcon heavy rocket.
Perfect. Thank you.
And Jacob on Facebook asks
what methods are used
to determine the density
of such
a cosmological body
like psyche?
Ooh, wrote a carver.
Rona, do you want to take that?
So mostly how we determine
the density of bodies
that we see from
very far away
is actually
to determine their size
and their mass.
And that gives you the density,
the size you can kind of
get from radio observations.
And Carver
may want to add to that later.
And the density you can
the mass, you can determine
by how this body interacts
with other bodies next to it.
So usually
we just look at this body
and how it behaves with respect
to other bodies
using telescopes
for a very long time.
This is how we do it
for planets inside
and outside
of the solar system.
And the same for asteroids.
We may want to think more
about the
sure and cool
things about what
we've been able to do with
psyche is the RC Row
telescope was actually used
to send radar
signals at psyche and listen
to how they bounce back.
And from that
we actually have
a pretty good idea of the size,
shape of psyche,
at least on a broad scale
right now.
And that helps
with figuring out the science
for that density
estimate my friend
was talking about.
Perfect.
Thank you.
So we
have another question
from Lees
Pavel wants to know
what instruments are on board
the spacecraft aft.
Rona, would you like
I Sorry, I didn't hear you.
I was saying, Rona,
would you like
to take that one? Yeah.
Yeah.
So we have three main
science instruments.
It's a magnetometer
that measures
the magnetic field.
It would be measuring
the magnetic field
around psyche and from psyche.
Hopefully we have the
the imager
that would be
imaging the surface
of psyche,
characterize its surface,
characterize craters,
any kind of structures
on it, geological structures.
And we have to a gamma ray
neutron spectrometer,
which is basically a detector
that picks up
particles that spatter
off of the surface
because of cosmic radiation.
And that helps us determine
the chemical
content of the minerals
that were spotted from.
So how much iron,
how much nickel
the surface has,
and putting
all of this together
with the gravity experiment
that we'll
be using the high again
antennas and the radio,
as Carver mentioned before,
if for those of you that didn't
hear beginning
putting it all together,
we would be able to
build the history of psyche.
You both are doing
such a fantastic job.
Answered all these questions.
I have one for you.
Carver
Hydraulic on YouTube asks
Why are some asteroids
made of metal
but others are not?
You know,
that's a great question
and that's part of why
we're going to psyche.
This will be the first metal
rich asteroid
that we've gone and visited
and explored in this way.
And that's one of our questions
is how did it
get to be this way?
We have some ideas,
some hypotheses going in,
like maybe it was part
of a larger planetesimal
where this was the core
and then there was
some sort of Rocky Mountain top
that got stripped off
in a giant collision
and giant impact.
But we don't know if that's
what happened or not,
and that's
why we're going
there, is to find out.
And we have one more
question for you from Iceland.
Animations on YouTube
wants to know
how big is the psyche asteroid?
Its radius
is a 250 kilometers.
So it's about the size
of the state of Massachusetts.
I was going to ask for
like another reference
point for people. Perfect.
Thank you so much, Rona.
Now,
the questions are fantastic.
Please keep sending them in.
It's incredible.
Yeah, it's incredible to see
that we're going to visit this
mysterious metal rich
asteroid with psyche.
Now, let's take a
little bit of a deeper
dive into the mission.
At the end of the day,
it's always
a philosophical question of
why are we in this universe
space just inspired
everyone of different
backgrounds,
different nationalities.
So I think it gives in
a chance,
kind of hope for humanity
as human beings.
If we're not exploring,
then what are we doing?
It's extremely difficult
science of technology,
but it's possible.
My name is Lisa Dominguez
and my job is to assemble
all the different components
for the safety spacecraft.
I'm Julie Lee,
and my job is to propel
the psyche spacecraft
to a metal rich asteroid.
I am very annoying.
My name is Christina Hernandez.
My name is Venus
Ashwagandha Timothy.
And I'm making sure
that we built a spacecraft
that's ready to explore
a metal world.
What's really exciting
about psyche
being a metal rich asteroid is
we haven't yet
had the opportunity
to explore
for a planetary core,
and that's what
we actually think
happened to psyche.
There is a theory
that this metallic asteroid
may be
very closely
related to the materials
that made up the core
of our own planet.
It could have been the remnant
of a planetary collision
billions of years ago
in our solar system.
All that's left
is the metal rich remnant.
Scientists hypothesize
that by studying this asteroid,
we think that could give us
a lot more insights on
what our actual
planet is doing.
So this is the
psyche spacecraft.
We're basically
looking on a spaceship
that's going into space.
And welcome
to the highway to JPL.
We pulled together
all the different components
that everyone's building
and so this is where we control
this spacecraft
and dictate
how things happen on the floor.
This is where I work on the low
voltage power supply
for the psyche mission.
It's pretty exciting
to watch something
that we build
with our own hands.
This is something
that you've spent years
on launch
here in a couple of years,
reach psyche
and send back science data.
We formed a really,
really critical team.
The diversity of skill sets
that each one of us
in our community
brought to the team
to make this kind of impact
to society
is what inspires me
to be an engineer in the
space exploration sector.
Seeing that video
makes me think about
how many individuals
are required
to achieve a mission like this.
Now I have a question
for both of you.
In what way
has your experience
with the Psyche team
been the most meaningful?
Carver would you like to start?
Sure. Yeah.
So I joined the psyche team
relatively recently
a few years ago.
So I was joining
in the midst of COVID
and everything else
that was happening,
and it was really wonderful
to just
how welcoming
the team was to me
as I was joining on.
Even though
there was all the chaos
going on
and everyone's
in the middle of trying
to get the spacecraft
ready for launch,
there's still
so much excitement
and so much passion
about all the wonderful science
that we're going to be doing.
It's great to hear.
What about you, Rona?
It's been such an inspiring,
inspiring and exciting
experience,
really seeing this team
come together.
I joined in 2017
and really seeing
the team build
and evolve and add people
and then go into COVID
and then come back.
And somehow we managed
to actually
build the spacecraft.
And it's really
like the combination
of talking to people
and working with people
that have so much
different experiences than you.
And the first time going
to see the psyche spacecraft
when it was being built
where it's still
with their bare bones
and then seeing it again
at JPL,
almost ready for launch
before
being delivered to the Cape.
It was really exciting to see
it all actually come to life.
Yeah, to see the
physical embodiment
of what you've been working
so hard on.
Yes, absolutely.
All right.
Thank you.
Now let's get to more
of your questions online.
And please
keep sending them
in using the hashtag.
Ask NASA
or put them in the chat
wherever you are
watching today.
So we have Ron
Carlson on YouTube
who asks, Will Psyche's
magnetic field
be measured and mapped?
Presumably it's very cold
and will have some
magnetization locked in
from at least its collisions.
Rona,
that sounds like a question
for you.
Amazing question.
Yes.
So we will be measuring
the magnetic field
we have designed with our
all of our collaborators,
the NSA and
Denmark Technical University.
And if read Dimity
to magnetometers,
to semi-circular objects
that measure
the magnetic fields very,
very delicately
and try to tell
if the body
that you see here on
the video is actually harbor
or some magnetic field
that's locked into the rock.
So these rocks formed
in the inside magnetic field
and what they were
in the molten state,
and then
they slowly froze
and became solid,
locking in that magnetic field
and that ancient
magnetic field
is the field that we are
trying to now detect.
Wow.
Thank you.
And Gary Walters on
X is asking a question
we've touched on before.
But if you're just tuning in,
he wants to know,
will the spacecraft
retrieve any materials
from the asteroid carver?
So we're not going to retrieve
any samples from psyche.
We're just going to be
using our instruments
as we're in orbit
to study the surface
and get better
and better maps of psyche
as we get
closer and closer
and closer to the asteroid.
Ray and Carver,
a few more people are asking,
when will
this mission be launched?
We're going to be launching
October 5th
and then it's going to be
about five years
before it arrives
at psyche itself.
So it'll arrive at the
asteroid in August of 2029.
Great.
Thank you.
Curtis Horne on YouTube asks,
Do we know about near-Earth
asteroids
that are also metallic?
Rona
I don't believe we do. I don't.
I mean, we should get back to
that question.
I don't believe
there are any big ones.
Psyche is definitely
unique in the sense
that it's the largest known
metallic object
ever observed by mankind.
So
I don't know if there may be
metallic objects
near the earth.
Great question.
Yeah.
Well, we'll get back to him
with an answer. Yeah.
Thank you.
And then Johnny
Cheese on YouTube asks
how many cameras are on board
and what will the
resolutions of the images be?
So the psyche
spacecraft
has two imagers on board,
and the image
quality of the resolution
is going to get better
as we move later on
as basically as the spacecraft
gets closer to the surface,
we'll be able to see
more detail on the surface
with the best images.
We're hoping to be
about five meters
per pixel
or about 15 feet
per pixel across
on the surface.
And I have
another question for you.
Carver Max Schiff,
it's on YouTube, wants to know
what's the difference
between an asteroid
and a protoplanet.
Two asteroids
we see today
in our solar system.
Most of them are spread out
between Mars and Jupiter.
Much, much smaller
chunks of rock
than the Earth
or even our own moon.
A protoplanet
would have been an object
early in solar system history
that was growing,
getting much, much larger,
and some of those protoplanets
would have gone on
to become the planets
that we see in our solar system
today, like we're standing on
Earth here.
And some of those
other protoplanets
may have collided with others
and merged
to form bigger protoplanets
and some of them
may have collided
and broken apart.
And some of that
debris from them
breaking apart is still left
over in the asteroid belt.
Great.
Thank you.
And Roosevelt on YouTube
asks, Is psyche
a magnetic planet?
Will it have the potential
to save water molecules
from solar winds?
Rona
Oh, very interesting question.
Well, if it is magnetized,
it may be able to
protect its own surface
from the solar wind.
However, it is very low chance,
if at all, that it has water
molecules around its surface.
We have very low gravity
compared to the earth.
Even the moon has very,
very little water molecules
hovering around its surface,
very hard to detect.
So we don't believe an object
like psyche
would likely have
water molecules surrounded
by magnetic field
will definitely,
if it exists, will
definitely be able
to shield it, at least in part
from solar radiation,
solar, wind and cosmic rays.
And we're
still getting some
great questions
that are coming in.
A viewer on YouTube is asking
what is the diameter
and the gravity of the psyche?
Asteroid Carver.
Do you know that one
rotor you just gave the size
a minute ago and you want to.
The outer is 250 kilometers?
I don't know.
It's in miles,
but it's
basically the size
of Massachusetts.
And I don't know
about the gravity.
Maybe Carver
can estimate.
We could maybe
get back to the Earth.
Yeah,
well, that was a great question
from this viewer.
We will get back to you
with that answer, too.
Thank you.
And I really do like
when you put it
in like that size method,
the size of Massachusetts,
that really adds
some great perspective on it.
Bonnie on Facebook asks
if the inner core of a planet
was going through space,
what would you call it,
an asteroid or something else?
We'll call
it psyche.
That's a perfect answer.
Kevin Cook on YouTube
wants to know how close will
the spacecraft
come to the psyche asteroid?
I think the closest approach
is around 70 kilometers.
Thank you.
And then a viewer wants to know
what is the amount of material
within the asteroid belt
be enough to form a planet.
What is the possibility
that the belt is
a transition phase
like Saturn's rings cover
so there's not enough
mass in the asteroid belt
to form planets
even of like the size of Mars?
There's just not that much
material left over there.
And we see a lot of surfaces
on some of these asteroids
that are very old
and have a lot of craters
from previous missions,
like the dawn spacecraft
that went to visit
the asteroid Vesta.
So we know that there's
a lot of these asteroids
that have been there for
all of solar system history.
And it's not something that's
actively like forming
and creating new planets
there right now.
These are just the leftovers
from these processes
that happened
when all the plants
were forming
billions of years ago.
And I think I have a follow up
question for you.
Shalom Hammer on YouTube asks,
Does Psyche have any moons?
It does not have any moons
that we know of at
this time,
and we wouldn't expect there
to be any that
we haven't seen yet
unless there's maybe
just some very small debris
kind of trapped or out
in orbit.
But
we haven't seen any
moons of psyche.
Thank you. Cover.
And we have another question
coming in from J
to X on X is asking.
It is an interesting mission.
No two ways about it.
But what does NASA's plan to do
with the data?
Follow in its
successful mission?
Further research
and understanding
only or a basis
for follow on missions
to similar objects? Rona
That's an excellent question.
So we are explorers.
We always think about
the next mission.
So every mission
that every planet
that we visit,
every object that we visit,
all the information
is gathered, is analyzed
by the scientists
that built instruments
and being
then distributed to the public.
So you can actually go
and ask the websites
and download all the data
from previous missions.
And then
you and everybody around
the world can think about
what would be
the next question,
the next object
we would be going to explore.
And even before then,
when we plan a mission,
we only plan it
to so many years
through years of orbiting.
That's where it's like you,
for example.
But if the spacecraft
remains intact,
we always think about,
Oh, if we actually survived
those first two years,
what are we going to do next?
Are we going to
land on the object?
Are we going to go
visit another object?
And almost every mission
in recent years
that you've seen
actually extended itself
and chose another target.
So you don't
you don't even have to wait
for the next mission.
We'll just keep exploring
with the spacecraft
that we have. Hopefully
those are some
exciting possibilities.
Carver
Do you have anything to add?
No, that was a great answer.
Perfect.
We'll go on to space
guy on YouTube.
Why Psyche aren't there
any closer asteroids
that could be visited?
Give that one to you.
Cover. Sure.
I mean, the thing
that makes psyche special is
it is the largest
metallic asteroid
that we know of
in our solar system.
We don't know
of any other large
object like this
that we could go visit.
And so if we want to understand
what psyche is, what
these metallic asteroids are
and what their relationship
is to the earth and its core,
this is the place to go.
Great.
And Summer Sanaa.
No man on YouTube asks,
How was the psyche
mission planned?
I'll give that one
to you, Rona.
Well, it's an
interesting story.
So at first
the idea was that
we've seen
a lot of different types
of asteroids.
We've seen the asteroid.
It's a rocky,
the asteroid
that they're metallic.
And there was a big question
that was, are they
are they coming from
the same parent body?
Did they used to be the same
body in the past?
Or actually,
are we seeing separate bodies
that evolved
completely separately?
And then the idea emerged
that maybe
what's called
a partially differentiated part
is it's a very big term
to say that
maybe some planets,
that there are some
planetary bodies
that evolved didn't
come as in the flavor
of core mantle
crust like our planet,
but maybe they were
kind of something in between,
just like a core in the mantle
or something like that.
And then if that was correct,
then maybe some
of the meteorites
that we are seeing
and some of the asteroids
that we were seeing
were all part of this,
those bodies that were
only like partially
becoming a planet.
And in order to address
this question,
the Jet propulsion Laboratory
at NASA
approached the scientist
that started this mission,
Professor
Linda Stanton,
Ben Weiss and others,
and asked them
how will they design a mission
that would actually
answer that question?
And that started the whole idea
of bringing together
all the people that can build
spacecraft
and build instruments
and address
other science questions
and build
this mission together.
It's so great
to hear about the process
that went into
putting this mission together.
And I just want to
thank you both again
for answering
such great questions
that are coming in.
And please keep sending
more our way.
Our experts are going to be
right back to answer
some of your questions.
But right now,
a closer
look at how the psyche
mission team
is preparing for the
targeted October 5th launch.
There aren't
many classes of objects
left in our solar system
that we haven't looked at up
close with a spacecraft
and one of them
that's left
is the metal asteroids.
16 Psyche is an asteroid
that orbits the sun out
between Mars and Jupiter.
The reason
that psyche is unique
is that it is metal rich.
It's believed
that it may be a remnant core
of an early planetesimal
that was formed in the very,
very earliest parts
of the formation
of the solar system.
And after this planet
started forming
and this metal core
formed inside of that,
it collided with other bodies
that then stripped
off the rocky mantle,
leaving this core in place.
This is the part of planets
that we can't sample directly.
It's too hot,
the pressure is too high
or instruments would melt.
Can't drill a hole
that deep in the earth
or other planets.
So how do we study the core
of our planet?
Psyche gives us the opportunity
to visit a core
the only way that humankind
can ever do.
And it would be
the first metal objects
that humankind is ever visited.
After launch, we
cruised through
interplanetary space
for a number of years.
First,
we fly by Mars
for gravity, assist
that'll slingshot us
into the asteroid belt,
and then we're thrusting
all the way from there
to finally arriving at Psyche.
We'll go into four orbits
to collect
the necessary measurements
that we need from
our three primary instruments.
So our payload consists
of a couple of imagers,
which are cameras
that take pictures of psyche.
Also a gamma ray
neutron spectrometer,
which allows us to measure
the elemental composition
of the surface of psyche.
And then a magnetometer,
which will allow us
to detect a magnetic field
that's left at psyche.
If psyche still has
some sort of remnant
magnetic field
that that probably tells us
it really was a core.
It's a strong indicator.
We also use the radio
on the spacecraft
as an instrument
so we can map out the gravity
and map out the
interior structure. That way.
We're using a
particular thruster technology
hall effect,
thruster technology.
They operate
five times
more efficiently
than normal rockets,
so they use a lot less fuel
and is what allows us
to get into orbit
around this asteroid.
Solar electric propulsion
has been around
for quite a while
and it has flown before,
But we're continuing
to push the boundaries.
We're going
to have big five panel
fold out solar panels
that will provide
the electricity
for the thrusters,
which use as propellant.
The noble Gas xenon.
This will be the first time
that hall effect
thrusters have flown
in deep space.
Studying
the evolution of
a planetary body
is a detective story.
There's a magic to
when you actually are
on the launch pad
and you say we're go for launch
and you feel like
singing and dancing
and you feel like throwing up
at the same time.
Let's go discover things
about our solar system
that we have
no other way to do.
I think that it's
fundamental to who we are
and also who we should be.
It's an incredible opportunity
to be a part of
the team making that happen.
It is great
hearing about the mission
and what it will discover
and it seems like
many of our viewers
are feeling the same way.
We have
lots of questions
still coming in,
so let's get to a few more.
Our next question
comes from Dave
Panda on YouTube.
Who asks, Will
the data collected be immediate
release to the public
if not released
as it's received?
When will the data be released?
Rona,
do you want to take that one?
We have a total run of
just a few weeks,
so we just
we just have to make sure that
the data
is clean and organized
and processed correctly
and it's really fairly quickly.
And then we have a viewer on X
asking
what will happen
to the spacecraft upon
mission completion?
Carver Do you know?
Sure.
I mean, right now,
we don't know.
There's going to be
about a two year
period of science operations
as we're moving
closer and closer
and then kind of as Ron
was talking
about a little bit earlier,
once we get to the end
of that period of time,
then there'll be
discussions about,
okay, well,
what do we do now
with everything
that we've learned over
this amount of time,
looking at
how much fuel is left
on the spacecraft.
There'll be conversations
then to try and figure out
what those next steps might be,
but we don't know how
the mission will end
at this point.
It's still a question mark.
So bubble science on se x
metal rich,
which metals are
expected to be found?
Rona do you want to
take that question? Sure.
We mostly
think about iron a nickel
when we talk about psyche.
We know from
how light is reflected
off the surface,
as we explained
before in the beginning,
that it does
have a lot of metal content.
We don't know how much.
We don't
how if it's only
in the surface, mostly
in the inside of the body,
but it's mostly
iron and nickel
and minerals
that contain iron and nickel
and burn.
I think we answered
this question beforehand,
but if you're just tuning
in, Bonnie
Berger on Facebook asks,
How close will the craft
get to psyche in its orbit?
Is this something
we might have to
get back to them?
I could run 70 kilometers,
so a little bit
less than psyche's
actual radius.
So set as a PSYCHE'S
radius is 113 kilometers.
Its diameter is
twice that
almost the
size of Massachusetts.
And we are going to be as close
as around a little bit
less than its own radius.
So we're going to see it
pretty close.
Very nice.
And Sojourner, our
Facebook wants to know,
will the psyche module
be collecting any other images
or taking any
other measurements
on its journey
to the asteroid carver?
Would you like that question?
I'm not aware of a Rona.
Do you have anything?
Yes.
So the minute
we launch,
we will go through a process
where we turn on
all of our instruments
one by one, a few days apart,
and we start measuring
from the very beginning
for the magnetometer.
We will be measuring
the solar, wind,
magnetic field all the way
in the several years of cruise.
And we're going to
be analyzing it
and looking at
how eruptions from the sun
transfer as our spacecraft
will also be doing
a mars flyby.
So we'll be flying by Mars
in order
to get some gravity going
and get us
to the asteroid faster.
So when we get closer to Mars,
we're definitely going to use
that as a science opportunity
and use our instruments to
measure Mars's environment.
Thank you, Rona.
Now we have
a question from Dawn
on Facebook.
Who asks.
Of all the words in the world,
the language,
why call it psyche?
I don't know.
Which one of you
wants to take that one first.
Well, it's
actually called
officially sixth in Psyche
and the sixth in there
is actually
the number
of how many asteroids
were discovered.
So it was the number 16.
So that kind of tells you
how far away in history
it was named that way.
So no one living
today was involved in
giving it that name.
And it was called psyche
after the soul of the
of the humans and.
Its astronomical symbol
is actually a butterfly wing,
which is
kind of an allusion to a soul.
And that's just the name
that was given to it
back in the day in the
by the observatory in Torino
in Italy that observed
it for the first time.
That's a great story
on its history.
Thank you, Rona.
And Mohammed on
Facebook wants to know
how fast is psyche's day
or year, maybe day?
I'm not quite sure
how we can interpret that.
Rona, do you have an idea?
Yeah.
So did this cover mentioned
about the seasons earlier
on in the broadcast?
Psyche is actually tilted,
tilted on its
rotation axis
and tilted on the plane
where it orbits the sun.
So it always has one half
pointing towards the sun.
It does rotate around itself
in a period of four.
So you could say
that's our day.
But as I said,
because the rotation axis
is actually lying down,
you always have the North
basically towards the sun
and the south pointing
towards the away from it.
And then you have to wait
inside this year
as the object
is orbiting the sun
and then different part of
it will be facing the sun.
So but in 4 hours
we have a full rotation
for hours.
And Carver, I have a question.
You, Kayla
wardle on YouTube asks,
Does the psyche asteroid
actually have
the two craters
depicted in the picture?
If so, how did you determine
the craters?
Are there?
Yeah.
So what we see right now
with the radar data from her,
see where they're bouncing
these radar signals
off the psyche
and listening to
those returns is
we can see that
there are divots, that
this is not just a smooth round
sphere, has a very
complicated shape
and does look like there's two
to probably two big
ish craters
or big divots of some kind
near the southern pole.
But we don't know exactly
what those look like yet
because again, right now
all of our images
are very fuzzy,
essentially very low resolution
view of what
the shape of psyche looks like.
So they may look
quite different
from how we have artists
imagining it right now.
Or maybe it will look
pretty similar
with two large craters
there like
we see on some other asteroids.
Vesta,
which has a very large crater
near its southern pole as well.
Really excited to
see those first pictures
come in
and see how accurate the
the artist's illustration was.
And Danielle on YouTube asks,
Why is there such an increase
in the number of these
smaller bodies
found more than years ago
with them being so small
compared to planets?
How do we detect them
in the first place?
Rona.
Excellent question.
The short answer is technology.
We have better telescopes.
We have better
computer programs
that can detect
a very small signals.
So we are able to do
the unimaginable
of seeing planets
in faraway solar systems.
And really just by analyzing
the the light
that's coming off
of their stars.
So you can imagine
what kind of sensitivity
we have been building
in the last few years.
And we're just able to
divert more resources, computer
and telescope resources
to detect those bodies.
And of course,
there is the interest of
planetary safety
of monitoring asteroids
that may transverse or orbit
and they may present a risk.
So there's definitely
a lot of effort
put into
tracking down the tiniest body,
because the tiniest body
can produce a lot of damage
if it comes our way.
Yes.
Thank you,
Rona and Elaine
Hughes on X asks,
Is there an instrument
to measure density or variances
of gravitational
field on psyche?
In a sense, there is.
So the main radio
dish that we use to communicate
all the data back to Earth,
we can also use
to track the spacecraft
really precisely.
So as the spacecraft
is going in its orbit,
it's getting
tugged on by psyche.
And if there's a
large density difference,
a large mount
nearby, it's going to feel
that tug at psyche's surface.
We can measure that and see
what does the detailed
gravity of psyche look like.
What are those density
variations
within psyche itself?
And see what
that tells us about
how psyche is put together,
what it's made of.
Thank you, Carver.
And we know that lots of people
are still joining
in to the broadcast
and learning
about the psyche mission
with us in real time.
So Kevin
Brant Cook has a question
we've touched on before,
but since he's just tuning
in, Rona,
how close will the psyche probe
come to the asteroid?
Yes, so the psyche probe
will start orbiting
the asteroid
a few hundreds of kilometers
above the surface.
But then it would slowly go
into increasingly
smaller orbits,
as you can see here.
And you can see that
some of them are tilted
in a different orientation.
So the closest
one is the one that you see
that's vertical,
that's what we call orbit,
and that's the closest one.
And that's
about 70 kilometers, about
above the surface.
Thank you.
And another question
we touched on before.
Tamir Rice on YouTube asks,
How long will
the spacecraft study
the psyche asteroid Carver?
The main mission
is planned to be a little over
two years in orbit,
starting with that high orbit.
They're always talking
about slowly getting closer
and closer to the surface
as we learn more.
And then another question
from Tomer on YouTube.
Could this psyche asteroid
collide with Earth Carver?
So psyche asteroid has been out
in the asteroid belt
between Mars and Jupiter
for all of solar
system history.
It looks to be on
an incredibly stable orbit.
So
it's not going to ever cross
Earth's orbit
and have any chance
of colliding with the earth.
Right. Thank you.
And then Professor
Marco Nunez,
Jorge
from the Aerospace
Academy of Mexico asks,
How is it possible
to bring some STEM activity
or STEM activity
to middle school classrooms
about the psyche mission?
Rona Carver,
would you both like
to take that one?
That is an excellent question.
Psyche has a huge effort
when it comes
to outreach and education.
And if you would like to
contact us, Cassie Bowman
that was involved with
this broadcast
will be able to
share a lot of opportunities
and different initiatives
that the psyche mission
has for college students
and elementary school
and middle school children
that we are involved with.
This would be a fantastic
mission to learn about.
And Don on YouTube asks,
Does the team anticipate
the possibility of discovering
previously unknown
or undiscovered
elements on psyche?
Carver.
We don't expect to find
new types of elements
that we haven't seen
other places
in the solar system
before created in our lives
before.
What we expect to see
is kind of
different combinations
on the surface,
the minerals that we find
are going to be minerals
that we've seen
other places before,
but it's how
they're put together
that's going to tell us
the story of psyche
and how it
got to be the way it is.
We have another
question about launch.
I'll see if we can answer this
one Crash on YouTube asks,
How long is the launch window?
I know it's instantaneous,
but how many days do
we have a chance?
I'm already expecting
to spend some time at the Cape.
That's great to hear.
Rona Carver.
Do you have an answer?
Well, we're all planning
and excitedly
waiting to spending
some time on the Cape.
So the launch window
for each day is very,
very short.
We plan to launch around
10 a.m., 10:30 a.m..
And if the conditions
are not permitted,
we're just going to skip
to the next day.
I think the entirety
of the launch opportunity
is about 3 to 4 weeks,
but I can double check.
Yeah, well,
we'll get back to you
with an answer.
Thank you.
Crashing
excited for you
to go to the Cape.
And I just want to say
that we are
actually running out of time.
But I do have
one final question
for both of you.
You know,
we have lots of viewers
today interested in the work
both of you are doing.
What advice
do you have for people
who may want to get involved
in scientific research?
Carver, we'll start with you.
Yeah.
So I think the
biggest piece of advice
I would ask lots of questions,
be really curious
about the world around you
and dig in
and try to find these answers
and keep poking
and asking those good questions
because that will drive you to,
you know, working
and trying to find answers
to those questions.
Curiosity.
And Rhona, what about you?
Definitely.
I'll double down on curiosity.
Remain curious.
Cultivate your curiosity.
Follow it,
and also be creative about it.
There is no single way
to be part of the space
exploration community
that you don't have to be
a physicist, astrophysicist,
or an engineer.
There are many different ways
in which you can participate
in this great human adventure
and always look
for opportunities
and see them
when they come your way,
because that's
really important.
That's a great point.
Space is for everyone.
I'd like to thank you
both individually.
Thank you, Dr.
Carver Pearson,
for your time today.
Thank you so much
for having me.
And then, Dr.
Rhona Aran,
thank you again for your time.
Thank you so much.
Now, it was a pleasure talking
to both of you
and learning
about the psyche mission.
You know,
I'd like to also think
everyone tuning in online.
I love that
we were able to answer
so many interesting questions.
We hope you'll keep following
NASA's efforts to study
these mysterious worlds.
To stay updated,
follow NASA's
solar system on Facebook
and Instagram,
to learn more about psyche
and stay updated on its
October 5th
launch, visit
nasa.gov slash psyche.
And if you're a social media
creator interested
in attending the launch
and getting a behind the scenes
look at NASA's
Kennedy Space Center,
submit an application
for our two day
in-person NASA's
Social applications
are now open,
and the deadline
to apply is noon
Eastern Time on Monday,
August 28.
Thank you again and
see you next time.