6 Things to Know About NASA’s Asteroid-Exploring Psyche Mission

The first-ever mission to study a metal-rich asteroid, Psyche aims to help scientists learn more about the formation of rocky bodies in our solar system.

With a launch readiness date set for Thursday, Oct. 12, NASA’s Psyche spacecraft will travel 2.2 billion miles from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida to a metal-rich asteroid in the far reaches of the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. Trailing a blue glow from its thrusters and powered by a pair of massive solar arrays, the orbiter will use its payload of science instruments to learn more about the asteroid Psyche.

Here are six things to know about the mission:

1. Learning more about the asteroid Psyche could tell us more about the origins of our solar system.

Based on data obtained by Earth-based radar and optical telescopes, scientists hypothesize that the asteroid Psyche could be part of the metal-rich interior of a planetesimal, a building block of a rocky planet that never formed. Psyche may have collided with other large bodies during its early formation and lost its outer rocky shell. Humans can’t bore a path to Earth’s metal core, so visiting Psyche could provide a one-of-a-kind window into the history of violent collisions and accumulation of matter that created planets like our own.

2. The asteroid could also suggest a different story of how solar system objects formed.

While rocks on Mars, Venus, and Earth are flush with iron oxides, Psyche’s surface doesn’t seem to feature much of these chemical compounds. This suggests that Psyche’s history differs from standard stories of planetary formation.

If the asteroid proves to be leftover core material from a planetary building block, scientists will learn how its history resembles and diverges from that of the rocky planets. And if scientists discover that Psyche is not an exposed core, it may prove to be a never-before-seen kind of primordial solar system object.

3. Three science instruments and a gravity science investigation will help sort out these solar system origin stories and more.

The spacecraft’s magnetometer will look for evidence of an ancient magnetic field at the asteroid Psyche. A residual magnetic field would be strong evidence the asteroid formed from the core of a planetary body.

The orbiter’s gamma-ray and neutron spectrometer will help scientists determine the chemical elements that make up the asteroid – and better understand how it formed.

The spacecraft’s multispectral imager will provide information about the mineral composition of Psyche as well as its topography.

The mission’s science team will harness the telecommunications system to conduct gravity science. By analyzing the radio waves the spacecraft communicates with, scientists can measure how the asteroid Psyche affects the spacecraft’s orbit. That information will help them determine the asteroid’s rotation, mass, and gravity field, offering additional insights into the composition and structure of the asteroid’s interior.

4. The spacecraft will use a very efficient propulsion system for the first time beyond the Moon.

Powered by Hall-effect thrusters, Psyche’s solar electric propulsion system harnesses energy from large solar arrays to create electric and magnetic fields. These, in turn, accelerate and expel charged atoms, or ions, of a propellant called xenon (a neutral gas used in car headlights and plasma TVs) at such high speed, it creates thrust. The ionized gas, will emit a sci-fi-like blue glow as it trails behind Psyche in space. Each of Psyche’s four thrusters, which will operate one at a time, exert the same amount of force that you would feel holding three quarters in the palm of your hand. In the frictionless void of space, the spacecraft will slowly and continuously accelerate.

This propulsion system builds on similar technologies used by NASA’s Dawn mission, but Psyche will be the agency’s first mission to use Hall-effect thrusters in deep space.

5. Psyche is a collaboration.

The mission draws on resources and know-how from NASA, universities, and industry. The principal investigator, Lindy Elkins-Tanton, is based at Arizona State University. By enabling collaboration with students nationwide, the partnership offers opportunities to train future instrument and mission leads in science and engineering, and to inspire student projects involving art, entrepreneurship, and innovation. Over a dozen other universities and research institutions are represented on the mission team.

NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California manages the mission for the agency’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington. Managed for NASA by Caltech in Pasadena, JPL is also responsible for system engineering, integration and test, and mission operations.

NASA’s Launch Services Program at Kennedy Space Center manages launch operations and procured the SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket.

Maxar Technologies’ team in Palo Alto, California, delivered the solar electric propulsion chassis – the main body of the spacecraft – and most of its engineering hardware systems.

6. The Psyche mission wants you to be part of the journey, too.

Space exploration is for everyone. The mission’s “get involved” webpage highlights activities and opportunities, including an annual internship for college students to interpret the mission through artistic and other creative works, as well as classroom lessons, craft projects, and videos. Information on how to participate in a virtual launch experience is at nasa.gov/specials/virtualguest/.

The mission websites nasa.gov/psyche and psyche.asu.edu will post official news about the spacecraft’s journey. NASA and ASU will also post regular social media updates on Facebook, Instagram, and X.

NASA’s Eyes on the Solar System, a free web-based 3D visualization tool, will track the location of the spacecraft in real time. Visit go.nasa.gov/45k0OVY to see where Psyche is in the solar system.

About two months after launch, as the team performs an initial checkout of the spacecraft and science instruments, the mission expects to receive its first images. Once the team confirms the imager is functioning as expected, a webpage will feature the unprocessed, or raw, images flowing straight from the spacecraft.

More About the Mission

A technology demonstration called Deep Space Optical Communications (DSOC) will fly on Psyche in order to test high-data-rate laser communications that could be used by future NASA missions. JPL manages DSOC for the Technology Demonstration Missions program within NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate and the Space Communications and Navigation program within the Space Operations Mission Directorate.

Psyche is the 14th mission selected as part of NASA’s Discovery Program, managed by the agency’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama.

For more about the mission, go to:

https://www.nasa.gov/psyche

News Media Contacts

Gretchen McCartney
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
818-393-6215
gretchen.p.mccartney@jpl.nasa.gov 

Karen Fox / Alana Johnson
NASA Headquarters, Washington
301-286-6284 / 202-358-1501
karen.c.fox@nasa.gov / alana.r.johnson@nasa.gov

2023-141

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STEM Learning Resources to Prepare for Upcoming Eclipses

The Sun and Moon will work together to put on a celestial show in the skies above North America during two solar eclipses in the months to come. On Saturday, Oct. 14, the Moon will nearly cover the Sun during what’s called an annular solar eclipse, and on April 8, 2024, the Moon will completely block out the Sun during a total solar eclipse. Get ready to make the most of these rare events with this curated list of NASA STEM learning resources and related content, including activities, citizen science opportunities, and more.

Safety First!

First things first! It’s important never to look directly at the Sun, even during a solar eclipse. Protect your eyes with specialized solar viewers, such as eclipse glasses or view the event with a pinhole projector check out these video instructions on how to make your own. You can learn more about eclipse viewing safety here.

What You’ll See

During the annular solar eclipse on Oct. 14, the Moon will appear smaller when it slips in front of the Sun’s disk, leaving a ring of sunlight visible for people on the main path of the eclipse. During the total solar eclipse in April, the Moon will fully block the Sun for a brief time for people on the main path of this eclipse. For both eclipses, people in most of the U.S. can see a partial solar eclipse, even if you’re not on the eclipse’s main path.

Wondering how much of the Sun will be blocked by the Moon where you are? Use this map to find out what the view will be like in your area, since the eclipses will take different paths as they cross the United States.

Learn What’s Happening

Students are invited to visit NASA’s Space Place for a helpful overview of eclipses and a deeper look at what happens during a total solar eclipse. Learn even more through fun hands-on activities such as How Can the Little Moon Hide the Giant Sun and the solar eclipse beach ball demonstration. Looking for books? Read “Our Very Own Star,” or the Braille book “Getting a Feel for Eclipses,” available in English and Spanish.

Educators can bring solar eclipse learning into the classroom with eclipse lessons from My NASA Data, the Epic Eclipse: A “Pi in the Sky” math challenge, and the Living With a Star educator guide, which explores the Sun-Earth connection. Other fun activities include learning how to measure solar energy during the eclipse, taking the new NASA Eclipse Kahoot! Quiz modeling the Earth-Moon system.

Be an Eclipse Scientist

Anyone can become a citizen scientist and contribute their eclipse observations! Here are two exciting opportunities:

• Eclipse Soundscapes: Share your multi-sensory observations and recorded sound data during the upcoming eclipses to help NASA better understand how these events impact ecosystems across the U.S. Learn more about the different options to get involved.
• GLOBE Eclipse: Only available when a solar eclipse is happening somewhere in the world, the GLOBE Eclipse tool will prompt users to record air temperature measurements in addition to observations of sky conditions and vegetation at the data collection site. You’ll need to download the GLOBE App to get started.

For the latest fun activities, learning resources, and opportunities to engage with NASA, visit NASA’s Office of STEM Engagement online at: https://stem.nasa.gov

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Sandra May

Hubble Captures Starry Cetus Constellation Galaxy

Hubble is sharing a brand new galaxy image every day through October 7, 2023!
Visit our website daily, or follow along on X, Facebook, and Instagram.

New and old stars alike twinkle in the dusty spiral arms of NGC 1087. Located 80 million light-years away in the constellation Cetus, NGC 1087 is a barred spiral galaxy. It has a diameter of 87,000 light-years and a very small nucleus, or center. The galaxy’s dust lanes, seen in dark red, help define its spiral structure. NGC 1087’s stellar bar – the elongated, bright-white structure at the galaxy’s center – is also shorter compared to other barred galaxies. Typically, in barred galaxies, the gravity of the center pulls in large quantities of gas, causing a burst of star formation followed by a slow decay. Uniquely, NGC 1087 shows signs of new star formation, making it of special interest to scientists.

British astronomer William Herschel discovered NGC 1087 in 1785. The galaxy sits just south of the celestial equator, making it visible from both hemispheres. In 1995, astronomers discovered a Type II supernova within this galaxy. Type II supernovae occur when a massive star uses all of its nuclear fuel and its iron core collapses, then explodes. Named 1995V, it is the only supernova ever seen in this galaxy.

In this new ultraviolet, visible, and near-infrared light image from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope, the dark red streaks are cold molecular gas, the raw material from which stars form. The spots of bright pink signal areas where new stars are forming, characterized by the presence of ionized hydrogen, oxygen, and sulfur. The bluer regions hold hot, young stars formed earlier in the lifetime of this galaxy. Hubble observed NGC 1087 to study the connection between young stars and cold gas, and especially to determine what happens to gaseous regions after stars are formed within them.

Media Contact:

Claire Andreoli
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD
claire.andreoli@nasa.gov

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NASA Sets Coverage for Psyche Spacecraft Launch to Metal World

NASA will provide coverage of the upcoming prelaunch and launch activities for its Psyche mission to a metal-rich asteroid. Launch is targeted for 10:16 a.m. EDT Thursday, Oct. 12, on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

Live launch coverage without commentary will begin at 9:15 a.m. EDT on the NASA Television media channel. The live launch broadcast with commentary will begin at 9:30 a.m., and will air on YouTube, X, Facebook, Twitch, Daily Motion, the NASA app, and the agency’s website. NASA TV’s public channel will be airing coverage of a spacewalk outside the International Space Station.

Prior to launch, NASA will hold a mission and science briefing at 12 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 10, and a prelaunch news conference at 1 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 11. Watch coverage on NASA TV, the NASA app, and the agency’s website at:

https://nasa.gov/nasatv

NASA is sending the spacecraft to an asteroid named Psyche, which orbits the Sun between Mars and Jupiter, to learn how Earth and other rocky planets formed. This will be the first mission to an asteroid with substantial amounts of metal, as previous missions have explored asteroids made mostly of rock or ice. The asteroid Psyche may be part of the interior of a planetesimal, a building block of a rocky planet. By studying it, scientists seek to determine whether the asteroid was a planetary core.

Attached to the Psyche spacecraft is a technology demonstration, NASA’s Deep Space Optical Communications. This experiment will test the ability of lasers to transmit data at increased rates beyond the Moon. High-bandwidth optical communications to Earth will be tested during the first two years of the spacecraft’s journey to Psyche. While the optical communications demonstration is hosted by Psyche, its transceiver will not relay Psyche mission data.

Full coverage of this mission is as follows (all times Eastern):

Tuesday, Oct. 10

9:30 a.m. – One-on-one media interviews at Kennedy with various mission subject-matter experts. Sign-up information will be emailed to media accredited to attend this launch in person.

12 p.m. – Psyche Mission and Science Briefing on NASA TV with the following participants:

• Lori Glaze, Planetary Science Division director, NASA Headquarters
• Lindy Elkins-Tanton, Psyche principal investigator, Arizona State University
• Ben Weiss, Psyche deputy principal investigator and magnetometer lead, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• David Oh, Psyche chief engineer for operations, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL)
• Abi Biswas, Deep Space Optical Communications project technologist, JPL

Media may request the news conference dial-in number and passcode by contacting the Kennedy newsroom no later than one hour prior to the start of the call at ksc-newsroom@mail.nasa.gov. Members of the public also may ask questions, which may be answered in real time during the segment, by using #AskNASA on social media. On-site media previously credentialed may attend the briefing in person or via telephone.

Wednesday, Oct. 11

1 p.m. – Psyche Prelaunch News Conference on NASA TV with the following participants:

• NASA Associate Administrator Bob Cabana
• Nicola Fox, associate administrator, NASA’s Science Mission Directorate
• Tim Dunn, senior launch director, NASA’s Launch Services Program
• Julianna Scheiman, director, Civil Satellite Missions, SpaceX
• Henry Stone, Psyche project manager, JPL
• Arlena Moses, launch weather officer, U.S. Space Force

Media may request the news conference dial-in number and passcode by contacting the Kennedy newsroom no later than one hour prior to the start of the call at ksc-newsroom@mail.nasa.gov. Members of the public also may ask questions, which may be answered in real time during the segment, by using #AskNASA on social media. On-site media may attend the briefing in person or via telephone.

2:30 p.m. – NASA Social Panel livestream at Kennedy. Watch live on YouTube and Facebook.

5 p.m. – NASA EDGE will host the Psyche rollout show live on NASA TV and YouTube.

Thursday, Oct. 12

9:15 a.m. – Live launch coverage without commentary begins on NASA TV media channel.

9:30 a.m. – Live launch coverage with commentary begins on YouTube, X, Facebook, Twitch, Daily Motion, the NASA app, and the agency’s website.

For NASA TV downlink information, schedules, and links to streaming video, visit:

https://www.nasa.gov/nasatv

NASA Website Launch Coverage

Launch day coverage of NASA’s Psyche mission will be available on the agency’s website. Coverage will include blog updates and livestreaming beginning no earlier than 8 a.m. Streaming video and photos of the launch will be available shortly after liftoff. Images of Psyche’s processing and launch are available online.

Follow countdown coverage on the Psyche launch blog at:

https://blogs.nasa.gov/psyche

Audio Only Coverage

Audio only of the news conferences and launch coverage will be carried on the NASA “V” circuits, which may be accessed by dialing 321-867-1220, -1240, or -7135. On launch day, “mission audio,” countdown activities without NASA TV launch commentary, will be carried on 321-867-7135 beginning at 9:15 a.m.

Attend Launch Virtually

Members of the public can register to attend the Psyche launch virtually. NASA’s virtual guest program for this mission includes curated launch resources, notifications about related opportunities or changes, and a stamp for the agency’s virtual guest passport following a successful launch.

Watch, Engage Online

Let people know you’re following the mission to a metal world. On Facebook, Instagram, and X, use the hashtag #MissionToPsyche and #AskNASA. You can also stay connected by following and tagging these accounts:

Facebook: NASA, NASAKennedy, NASAJPL, NASALSP, NASASolarSystem

Instagram: @NASA, @NASAKennedy, @NASAJPL, @NASASolarSystem

X: @NASA, @NASAKennedy, @NASASocial, @NASAJPL, @NASA_LSP, @NASASolarSystem

The spacecraft will travel almost six years, using a solar electric propulsion system and a gravity assist at Mars, to make the 2.2-billion-mile (3.6-billion-kilometer) journey to the asteroid. When it arrives, the spacecraft will orbit and observe the asteroid for about 26 months using a suite of instruments, including a multispectral imager, gamma-ray and neutron spectrometer, and magnetometer.

The Psyche mission is led by Arizona State University. NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of Caltech in Pasadena, California, is responsible for the mission’s overall management, system engineering, integration and test, and mission operations. Maxar Technologies in Palo Alto, California, provided the high-power solar electric propulsion spacecraft chassis. NASA’s Launch Services Program, based at Kennedy, is managing the launch service. Psyche is the 14th mission selected as part of NASA’s Discovery Program, managed by the agency’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama.

JPL manages Deep Space Optical Communications for the Technology Demonstration Missions program within NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate and the Space Communications and Navigation program within the agency’s Space Operations Mission Directorate.

For more information about Psyche, visit:

https://www.nasa.gov/psyche

-end-

Alise Fisher / Alana Johnson
Headquarters, Washington
202-617-4977 / 202-358-1501
alise.m.fisher@nasa.gov / alana.r.johnson@nasa.gov

Leejay Lockhart
Kennedy Space Center, Florida
321-747-8310
leejay.lockhart@nasa.gov

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Roxana Bardan

NASA Announces Teams for 2024 Student Launch Challenge

NASA has announced the 70 teams representing 24 states and Puerto Rico selected to compete in the 2024 Student Launch Challenge.

The annual competition – one of NASA’s nine Artemis Student Challenges – requires middle/high school and college/university students to design, build, and fly a high-powered amateur rocket and scientific payload.

The nine-month-long challenge will culminate with on-site events April 10-14, 2024, with final launches April 13 at Bragg Farms in Toney, Alabama, just minutes north of NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. Teams are not required to travel for their final launch, having the option to launch from a qualified location in their hometown. Details are outlined in the Student Launch Handbook.

Each year NASA implements a new payload challenge to reflect relevant missions. This year’s payload challenge is inspired by the Artemis missions, which seek to land the first woman and first person of color on the Moon.

Students will design a SAIL (STEMnaut Atmosphere Independent Lander) payload. It must deploy mid-air, safely return to the ground without using a parachute, and be reusable to launch the same day without repairs or modifications. The payload will contain a crew of four STEMnauts, non-living objects representing astronauts. Students will choose metrics to determine the endurance of the lander, considering acceptable descent and landing parameters.

University/college teams are required to meet the 2024 payload requirements set by NASA, but middle/high school teams have the option to tackle the same challenge or design their own payload experiment.

Student teams will undergo detailed reviews by NASA personnel to ensure the safety and feasibility of their rocket and payload designs. All teams must declare their rocket’s targeted altitude for final launch day during a preliminary design review. The team closest to their target will win the Altitude Award, just one of multiple awards presented to deserving teams at the end of the competition. Other awards include overall winner, vehicle design, experiment design, social media presence, and more.

In addition to the engineering and science side of the competition, students must also participate in outreach efforts such as engaging with local schools and maintaining effective social media accounts. Student Launch is an all-encompassing challenge and aims to prepare the next generation for the professional world of space exploration.

The competition is managed by Marshall’s Office of STEM Engagement (OSTEM). Additional funding and support are provided by NASA’s OSTEM via the Next Gen STEM project, NASA’s Space Operations Mission Directorate, Northrup Grumman, National Space Club Huntsville, American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, National Association of Rocketry, Relativity Space, and Bastion Technologies.

For more information about Student Launch, visit:

https://www.nasa.gov/stem/studentlaunch/home/index.html

For more information about other NASA challenges, please visit:

https://stem.nasa.gov/artemis/

Christopher Blair
Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Ala.
256.544.0034 
christopher.e.blair@nasa.gov

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Lee Mohon