Psyche’s mission to a metal world

The Psyche spacecraft’s voyage to its namesake asteroid is a unique chance to explore the exposed metal-rich core of an early planet – primordial building blocks that combined under the force of gravity to form our solar system some 4.5 billion years ago 

PSYCHE SP ACECRAFT
Spectrometer: Measures neutrons and gamma rays from asteroid’ s surface to determine its elemental composition

ASTEROID PSYCHE 225km in diameter

DEEP SPACE OPTICAL COMMUNICATION
High-bandwidth optical communications. DSOC will send and receive data using near-infrared laser, which can transmit up to 100 times bandwidth of conventional radio wave systems

ASTEROID BELT 
Between Mars and Jupiter, some 4 billion kilometres
away from Earth

ORBITING PSYCHE
2029: Enters orbit – makes four successively closer
orbits round asteroid.
Data sent to Earth for analysis

X-band high-gain antenna

CRUISE About
6 years

2031: End of mission

ASTEROID PSYCHE

2026: Mars gravity assist boosts velocity without depleting propellant

MARS

EARTH Launch: Oct 2023

SUN


Magnetometers:
Determine whether Psyche is primordial unmelted material. Asteroid appears to be more metal-rich than Earth

Solar arrays: 24.7m-wide panels needed to collect sunlight deep in asteroid belt

Sources: NASA, Peter Rubin, Space.com
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