Tag: Psyche spacecraft

NASA turns asteroid hunter again! Here is what Psyche spacecraft is looking for
Technology

NASA turns asteroid hunter again! Here is what Psyche spacecraft is looking for

[ad_1] NASA's Psyche spacecraft has been successfully launched, embarking on a groundbreaking mission to explore an asteroid of the same name, which is a metal-rich world that holds the potential to shed light on the formation of rocky planets. Integrated onto the Psyche spacecraft is NASA's Deep Space Optical Communications technology demonstration, aimed at testing deep space laser communications for future exploration missions, providing increased data transmission bandwidth compared to traditional radio frequency communications. NASA Psyche missionShortly after launch, the spacecraft separated from the rocket, and it entered a planned safe mode, during which it performed minimal engineering activities while awaiting further commands from mission controllers on Earth. Psyche establ...
Five things to know about NASA’s mission to a metal world
Technology

Five things to know about NASA’s mission to a metal world

[ad_1] For the first time ever, a NASA probe is journeying to an object composed not of rock, ice, or gas, but metal: the asteroid Psyche.By studying this space oddity, scientists hope to learn more about the inner cores of rocky planets such as our own -- or, potentially catalog a previously unknown class of cosmic body. Here are some fun facts about the mission, which launched on Friday. - $10 quadrillion -If Psyche were mineable, its iron, nickel and gold deposits could be worth an eye-watering $10,000 quadrillion (that's $10,000,000,000,000,000,000), according to an estimate reported by Forbes magazine.But Lindy Elkins-Tanton, the mission's principal investigator who was responsible for that calculation, said it's nothing more than a "fun intellectual exercise with no truth to it.""...