NASA sent a spacecraft called Psyche to explore a valuable asteroid containing rare metals, launching it on a six-year journey that cost $1.2 billion.

NASA sent a spacecraft called Psyche to explore a valuable asteroid containing rare metals, launching it on a six-year journey that cost $1.2 billion.

Benjamin Hughes


Starting off with a bang, NASA’s $1.2 billion project Psyche asteroid probe

Launched on Friday via a Falcon Heavy rocket, the spacecraft embarked on a journey of 2.2 billion miles into space towards a unique asteroid rich in metals. This asteroid could potentially provide insight on the formation of rocky planets such as Earth.

Lindy Elkins-Tanton, the principal investigator, stated that we will explore a new ingredient that has not been studied before. This material is responsible for making our Earth habitable and it is found in the core of our planet as well as other rocky planets. Sadly, we cannot physically visit these cores, but it is still important for us to gain knowledge about them.

Psyche is the largest metallic object in our solar system, making it the ideal destination for studying our cores.

TOPSHOT-US-SPACE-ASTRONOMY-PSYCHE

On October 13, 2023, a Psyche spacecraft will be launched into space from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida using a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket. CHANDAN KHANNA/AFP via Getty Images

Following multiple setbacks and delays
Following the outbreak of COVID and a last-minute delay of 24 hours due to stormy conditions on Thursday, the Psyche mission officially began at 10:19 a.m. EDT as the SpaceX Falcon Heavy’s 27 engines roared to life, releasing a powerful blast of fiery exhaust.

More More

William Harwood

headshots_William_Harwood.jpg

Since 1984, Bill Harwood has been consistently reporting on the U.S. space program. He initially served as the Cape Canaveral bureau chief for United Press International and is now a consultant for CBS News. During his career, he has reported on 129 space shuttle missions, all interplanetary flights since Voyager 2’s flyby of Neptune, and numerous commercial and military launches. Currently based at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, Harwood is also an avid amateur astronomer and co-wrote “Comm Check: The Final Flight of Shuttle Columbia.”

Source: cbsnews.com