Why NASA's latest space mission is named Psyche? And why it is very significant
Psyche spacecraft into the sky from NASA’s Kennedy Space Cente on a six-year journey to a rare asteroid, which also goes by the same name Psyche. The asteroid, which orbits the Sun between Mars and Jupiter, is believed to uniquely rich in metals. It is also believed that because of its high metal content, it could be a building block of an early planet. The NASA spacecraft to Psyche mission is big enough to almost cover a tennis court, which it solar arrays are deployed.
«Scientists think Psyche may consist of significant amounts of metal from the core of a planetesimal, one of the building blocks of our solar system. The asteroid is most likely a survivor of multiple violent hit-and-run collisions, common when the solar system was forming,» NASA says on its website.
About asteroid Psyche
In 1852, Italian astronomer Annibale de Gasparis discovered the Psyche asteroid, which is named after the goddess of the soul in ancient Greek mythology. Psyche, which is irregular shaped and potato-like, orbits the Sun in the outer part of the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. The distance from Earth to Psyche varies from less than 186 million miles to more than 372 million miles as both of them orbit at different speeds. According to NASA, the asteroid if sliced in half horizontally at the equator, it would measure 280 kilometers across at its widest point and 232 kilometers long. The surface gravity on Psyche is believed to be much less than it is on Earth.
Of the nine or so metal-rich asteroids discovered so far, Psyche is the biggest. “It’s long been humans’ dream to go to the metal core of our Earth. I mean, ask Jules Verne,” lead scientist Lindy Elkins-Tanton of Arizona State University said ahead of the launch.
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