NASA launches spacecraft to explore metal-rich asteroid Psyche: Report

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ALSO READ: NASA’s first asteroid sample has landed that may give clues about Earth's enemies in outer space The launch, shown live on NASA TV, marks the latest in a series of recent NASA missions seeking insights about the origins of our planet about 4.5 billion years ago by sending robotic spacecraft to explore asteroids - primordial relics from the dawn of the solar system. NASA said that asteroid Psyche measures roughly 173 miles (279 km) across at its widest point.

It resides on the outer fringes of the main asteroid belt between the planets Mars and Jupiter. Providing more details, the space agency said that cargo-faring panels enclosing the spacecraft inside the nose of the rocket's upper stage were jettisoned about five minutes after launch, and the probe itself was released into space about an hour later.

It said the process for the spacecraft to autonomously unfurl its twin solar panels and to point its communications antennae toward Earth takes around two hours. The detection of the probe's first radio signals was confirmed shortly after it was seen on live video floating free from the rocket by micontrollers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) near Los Angeles.

The JPL team plans to spend the next three to four months conducting checks of the spacecraft's systems before sending it on its deep space journey, reported Reuters. NASA said that the spacecraft would then orbit it for 26 months after reaching the asteroid, scanning Psyche with instruments built to measure its gravity, magnetic proprieties, and composition.