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Psyche Mission Going After Metal Planetary Cores, Cool Blue Light Is What Makes It Go

There is no question about it that the talk of the week among space enthusiasts was the launch of the DART mission on Wednesday. DART marks humanity’s first attempt at coming up with some sort of planetary defense against asteroids, and calls for a spaceship to smash into one at 15,000 mph (24,140 kph) and slightly change its course. But DART is not the only exciting mission cooked up in NASA’s laboratories.
Maxar thruster for the Psyche mission 9 photos
Photo: NASA
Psyche missionThe photo on the left captures an operating electric Hall thruster identical to those that will propel NASA's Psyche spacecraft, while the photo on the right shows a similar non-operating Hall thrusterNASA's Psyche spacecraft is photographed in July 2021 during the mission's assembly, test, and launch operations phaseNASA's Psyche spacecraft is photographed in July 2021 during the mission's assembly, test, and launch operations phaseNASA's Psyche spacecraft is photographed in July 2021 during the mission's assembly, test, and launch operations phaseIllustration of NASA's Psyche spacecraftNASA Psyche spacecraftPsyche asteroid
For ages science fiction writers have been talking about a future when humanity will be the master of the solar system, reaching far and wide in its quest for raw materials. Not quite a Kardashev Type III civilization, but one that can clearly mine the rocks that inhabit this part of space.

NASA and other space agencies have only begun looking at off-world mining as the perfect solution for the sustainability of daring pushes to conquer the solar system. Several missions are being planned to test in-situ resource utilization (ISRU) techniques and hardware on the Moon and even Mars.

But before we get to do that, we have to understand the place we live in, and for that to happen further studies into how planets are formed, for instance, need to be conducted. And there’s one mission that could do all that by peering at something that looks like the metallic core of an early planet.

Psyche is how the mission is called, and its target is a “unique metal asteroid orbiting the Sun between Mars and Jupiter” that wears the same name. The mission is an orbiter scheduled to launch on August 1, 2022, and handled by Arizona State University and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

Illustration of NASA's Psyche spacecraft
Photo: NASA/JPL-Caltech
The spacecraft is being put together by Maxar Technologies. Together with its solar panels, it is the size of a tennis court (81 feet/24.76 meters long, 24 feet/7.34 meters wide). Its main body holds scientific instruments, including a Gamma Ray and Neutron Spectrometer, a Multispectral Imager, a Magnetometer and an x-band radio telecommunications system. A new laser communication tech called Deep Space Optical Communication will also be tested on this flight.

Making it go will be a so-called solar electric propulsion system. That involves large solar arrays to turn sunlight into electricity and help power the spacecraft's thrusters, but also xenon, a neutral gas also used in vehicle headlights and plasma TVs, as a propellant.

The technology is the same one Maxar has been tapped to develop for the Gateway space station that will orbit the Moon, hence the same working principle. Solar light is collected, the light’s voltage is boosted and, through a “complicated electromagnetic process,” xenon is transformed into ions that shoot out the thrusters.

When fully ready to travel through space, meaning free from Earth’s pull and with the propulsions system all fired up, Psyche will eventually reach a top speed of 124,000 miles per hour (200,000 kilometers per hour), relative to the planet it departed from.

Psyche asteroid
Photo: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU
Another advantage of this type of propulsion system is the fact that they can run round the clock for years at a time, and still have plenty of fuel. JPL estimates the 2,030 pounds (922 kilograms) of xenon on board is the equivalent of 15 times that if conventional, chemical thrusters were used.

And last but not least, as a cool aura to the whole thing, the spacecraft will be shooting blue beams of ionized xenon out its rear.

The Psyche asteroid the mission is targeting is one of the first ones to have been discovered by our species. In fact, it’s the 16th asteroid we ever became aware of, and that happened in 1852 when Italian astronomer Annibale de Gasparis stumbled upon it.

The thing has a diameter of 140 miles (226 km), and a surface area of 64,000 square miles (165,000 square km). It is, in the scientists’ view, akin to an exposed nickel-iron planet core, ”one of the building blocks of our solar system,” and something all terrestrial planets are likely to have deep down in their guts.

NASA's Psyche spacecraft is photographed in July 2021 during the mission's assembly, test, and launch operations phase
Photo: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Traveling close to 300 million miles (480 million km) to see it is an effort well worth it, despite the fact it will take the ship 3.5 years to reach its destination.

Once there, Psyche will spend almost two years in orbit around… Psyche, mapping and studying its properties. The stated goals of the mission are rather technical, and can be studied here, but they essentially boil down to a better understanding of our solar systems, how planets form, and what hides at their core.

The success of the mission might also open the doors to more efficient means of propulsion and better instruments, which in turn could accelerate our expansion into neighboring space, and tighten our grip on it and its resources.

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About the author: Daniel Patrascu
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Daniel loves writing (or so he claims), and he uses this skill to offer readers a "behind the scenes" look at the automotive industry. He also enjoys talking about space exploration and robots, because in his view the only way forward for humanity is away from this planet, in metal bodies.
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