1 00:00:00,208 --> 00:00:05,672 ♪ 2 00:00:05,672 --> 00:00:09,467 I remember two Voyager missions launched in 1977. 3 00:00:09,467 --> 00:00:11,428 Shortly after launch, they turned around. 4 00:00:11,428 --> 00:00:13,847 They got the earth and the moon in the same picture. 5 00:00:13,847 --> 00:00:15,765 I've just been fascinated with imaging 6 00:00:15,765 --> 00:00:18,059 from deep space missions ever since, 7 00:00:18,059 --> 00:00:19,728 and I've been very fortunate to be able 8 00:00:19,728 --> 00:00:23,440 to create some of those pictures. 9 00:00:30,530 --> 00:00:33,491 - Psyche is what’s called an M-class asteroid 10 00:00:33,491 --> 00:00:37,454 in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. 11 00:00:37,454 --> 00:00:41,082 - It's the 16th asteroid discovered back in the 19th century. 12 00:00:41,082 --> 00:00:43,168 And we think that maybe 13 00:00:43,168 --> 00:00:46,796 it's the remnants of a planetary core. 14 00:00:46,796 --> 00:00:48,381 - All of the missions I've worked on 15 00:00:48,381 --> 00:00:51,092 had some sort of an imaging device. 16 00:00:51,092 --> 00:00:53,053 - Isn't that the first question that everyone asks? 17 00:00:53,053 --> 00:00:54,345 What does it look like? 18 00:00:54,345 --> 00:00:55,513 And so I've been dreaming 19 00:00:55,513 --> 00:00:57,640 about this object now for over a decade. 20 00:00:57,640 --> 00:00:59,392 And by then it'll be two decades I’ve been 21 00:00:59,392 --> 00:01:01,269 dreaming about this object, 22 00:01:01,269 --> 00:01:04,022 and then to see what it really looks like. 23 00:01:04,022 --> 00:01:05,899 What's more exciting than that? 24 00:01:07,692 --> 00:01:11,780 - For Psyche, we know it's going to be a relatively dark object. 25 00:01:11,780 --> 00:01:14,115 So we have to have an instrument 26 00:01:14,115 --> 00:01:16,868 that can see in that sensitivity 27 00:01:16,868 --> 00:01:18,661 with the dark surface and still be able 28 00:01:18,661 --> 00:01:22,123 to resolve the features that we're looking at. 29 00:01:22,123 --> 00:01:24,084 - The cameras on Psyche, we call them the 30 00:01:24,084 --> 00:01:26,961 Psyche multispectral imagers. 31 00:01:26,961 --> 00:01:29,297 They're a pair of identical cameras. 32 00:01:29,297 --> 00:01:31,508 They're a pair for redundancy 33 00:01:31,508 --> 00:01:33,051 just in case we have a problem with one, 34 00:01:33,051 --> 00:01:34,219 we've got the other one. 35 00:01:34,219 --> 00:01:36,137 - And with stereo, we can build 36 00:01:36,137 --> 00:01:37,972 what's called a digital terrain model, 37 00:01:37,972 --> 00:01:40,975 the surface of Psyche, which we're very interested 38 00:01:40,975 --> 00:01:43,770 in knowing at a high resolution. 39 00:01:45,647 --> 00:01:48,483 - Using the different filters, we actually can 40 00:01:48,483 --> 00:01:51,611 infer geochemistry of the surface. 41 00:01:51,611 --> 00:01:53,488 We can also associate it with 42 00:01:53,488 --> 00:01:56,282 the gamma-ray and neutron spectrometer data set 43 00:01:56,282 --> 00:01:58,952 to sort of really drilll down into 44 00:01:58,952 --> 00:02:00,662 the composition of the asteroid. 45 00:02:00,662 --> 00:02:02,705 - We'll also take pictures farther out into the 46 00:02:02,705 --> 00:02:06,000 infrared, where the sensors are still sensitive 47 00:02:06,000 --> 00:02:07,961 and where we can get a little bit more information 48 00:02:07,961 --> 00:02:11,798 about the kinds of rocks and minerals on the surface. 49 00:02:11,798 --> 00:02:14,425 One of the other functions besides science 50 00:02:14,425 --> 00:02:16,136 for the cameras is that they are our 51 00:02:16,136 --> 00:02:18,680 navigation cameras as well. 52 00:02:18,680 --> 00:02:20,098 This technique that was invented 53 00:02:20,098 --> 00:02:23,393 back in the 70’s called optical navigation, 54 00:02:23,393 --> 00:02:25,687 take pictures of stars and star fields, 55 00:02:25,687 --> 00:02:28,398 kind of like looking at a sextant on a ship 56 00:02:28,398 --> 00:02:29,357 hundreds of years ago. 57 00:02:29,357 --> 00:02:31,901 That same process is used in modern space 58 00:02:31,901 --> 00:02:35,280 missions as well. 59 00:02:35,280 --> 00:02:38,700 - The instruments actually being built by a company 60 00:02:38,700 --> 00:02:40,743 called Malin Space Science Systems. 61 00:02:40,743 --> 00:02:42,537 They built the LRO camera. 62 00:02:42,537 --> 00:02:44,873 They built MASTCAM, they built MASTCAM-Z. 63 00:02:44,873 --> 00:02:46,583 They've built numerous other cameras 64 00:02:46,583 --> 00:02:47,917 that are flown to Mars, 65 00:02:47,917 --> 00:02:49,627 and they do the final fabrication 66 00:02:49,627 --> 00:02:54,340 quality control before then delivering that instrument to JPL. 67 00:02:55,133 --> 00:02:57,802 - No deep space camera system like this 68 00:02:57,802 --> 00:02:58,970 has ever been built. 69 00:02:58,970 --> 00:03:03,057 However, the components that go into the cameras 70 00:03:03,057 --> 00:03:05,894 all have a lot of experience in space. 71 00:03:05,894 --> 00:03:08,897 A lot of what NASA calls heritage. 72 00:03:08,897 --> 00:03:11,274 - When we get to Psyche we’ll go into orbit. 73 00:03:11,274 --> 00:03:15,069 The imager will primarily work during Orbits A and B 74 00:03:15,069 --> 00:03:18,281 to get the images to characterize the surface 75 00:03:18,281 --> 00:03:20,742 features, to make the topographic map, 76 00:03:20,742 --> 00:03:23,870 and to get the color images which will hint 77 00:03:23,870 --> 00:03:25,413 at the composition. 78 00:03:25,413 --> 00:03:28,374 - Standard plan is that we’re pointed straight down 79 00:03:28,374 --> 00:03:30,376 and we’re snapping pictures 80 00:03:30,376 --> 00:03:33,087 as the asteroid rotates underneath them. 81 00:03:33,087 --> 00:03:35,089 - Usually the most important image 82 00:03:35,089 --> 00:03:37,050 that everybody gets excited is that first image 83 00:03:37,050 --> 00:03:39,385 that we acquire that you get back. 84 00:03:39,385 --> 00:03:42,764 - We are super committed on the Psyche project 85 00:03:42,764 --> 00:03:44,807 from P.I. Lindy Elkins-Tanton, 86 00:03:44,807 --> 00:03:47,185 and all the way down to sharing 87 00:03:47,185 --> 00:03:51,105 this experience with the public. 88 00:03:51,105 --> 00:03:53,107 I think the only thing we know and that's, 89 00:03:53,107 --> 00:03:56,110 you know, based on, you know, NASA's 50-60 year 90 00:03:56,110 --> 00:03:59,072 experience now is it is not gonna look like 91 00:03:59,072 --> 00:04:00,573 what we think it's gonna look like. 92 00:04:00,573 --> 00:04:02,575 And it's going to be really interesting 93 00:04:02,575 --> 00:04:04,494 whatever we find.