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Asteroid 16 Psyche appears to be an extraordinary asteroid. It's very roughly spherical (with some large dents) about 220 km/140 mi in diameter, is very massive and appears to be largely metallic. It was hypothesized that it's the exposed iron core of a failed protoplanet, but some astronomers think that its mass-density is too low for that. What's more, silicates have been detected on its surface

Recent stories in the pop-science magazines have claimed the 16 Psyche has astronomical value. That might be exaggerated. But if asteroid mining ever becomes a thing, 16 Psyche might become a center of attention for Belters.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/16_Psyche

The reason for this thread is that NASA is sending a space-probe to check out 16 Psyche. It's slated to be launched at 10:16 AM EDT on October 12 from Pad 39A at Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral atop a SpaceX Falcon Heavy. The rocket just underwent a successful static fire, prior to its launch a week from this coming thursday.

https://science.nasa.gov/mission/psyche/

https://psyche.asu.edu/

SpaceX photo of the rocket that will propel the probe out to the Belt. The two side-cores, B1064 and B1065 are both used (hence their sootyness) and both will be flying their fourth time. Both of them will be returning to LZ-1 and LZ-2 at Cape Canaveral. The center core B1079 will be on its first flight and will be expended. B1064 and B1065 are already penciled in to fly next year's Europa Clipper mission to the moons of Jupiter.

Don't tell Avi Loeb! He would probably say it's an alien spaceship.

(Oct 1, 2023 01:08 AM)Magical Realist Wrote: [ -> ]Don't tell Avi Loeb! He would probably say it's an alien spaceship.

I just bought a copy of Avi Loeb's new book

(I didn't buy it from Amazon. I got it at my local physical bookstore, where I like to browse now and then. Amazon link just for illustrative purposes.)

https://www.amazon.com/Interstellar-Sear...B0C3QLY1X1

Well, after being pushed back a day due to weather, the Psyche mission is successfully off to the asteroid belt. It will take several years to match orbits with Psyche, after a gravitational assist through a close approach to Mars.

The Psyche spacecraft has some interesting features. One is an experimental ion thruster. This will have very low thrust, but it can run for extended periods using electricity from the solar panels, so it might provide some valuable delta-V. Another interesting feature is an experimental laser deep space communication system. Besides just radio, Psyche will aim a modulated laser beam at Earth and receive modulated laser pulses in return.

Here's B1064 and B1065 returning to Cape Canaveral the way rockets should! (SpaceX photos posted on X by Elon)



And here's the mission departing from Cape Canaveral a few minutes earlier