One Month From Launch: Psyche Mission to a Metal Asteroid (Live Briefing)

One Month From Launch: Psyche Mission to a Metal Asteroid (Live Briefing)
NASA ID: JPL-20230906-PSYCHEf-0002-Psyche L30 UHD
Scheduled to launch on Oct. 5, 2023, from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the Psyche mission is a journey to a metal asteroid orbiting the Sun between Mars and Jupiter. What makes the asteroid Psyche unique is that it may be the partial core of a planetesimal (one of the building blocks of a rocky planet) or could be primordial material that never melted. The mission aims to help answer fundamental questions about Earth’s own metal core and the formation of our solar system. The spacecraft also will carry NASA’s Deep Space Optical Communications (DSOC), a technology demonstration that aims to show how lasers could increase data transmission rates far beyond the capacity of current radio frequency systems used on spacecraft today. Tune in as we hear from experts behind the mission. JPL Director Laurie Leshin will provide opening remarks, and briefing participants are expected to include: Lori Glaze, director, Planetary Sciences Division, NASA Headquarters in Washington Lindy Elkins-Tanton, principal investigator of Psyche, Arizona State University Henry Stone, project manager, Psyche, JPL Abi Biswas, project technologist for DSOC, JPL Serkan Bastug, mission manager, Launch Services Program, NASA Kennedy For more information on the Psyche mission, visit https://nasa.gov/psyche or follow #MissionToPsyche on social media. less
Date Created:2023-09-06
Center:JPL
Keywords: NASA , Jet Propulsion Laboratory , JPL , ASU , Arizona State University , astrotech , Psyche , asteroid , asteroid belt , main asteroid belt , iron-nickel , metal-rich asteroid , M-class , metal , solar power , solar arrays , solar electric propulsion , solar panels , sun , sun-powered , spacecraft , space , core , planetesimal , early planet , primordial solar system object , engineers , scientists , pre-launch , instrument , spectrometer , gamma ray and neutron spectrometer , thrusters , DSOC , Deep Space Optical Communication , technology demonstration , tech demo , journey to a metal world