NASA’s Psyche spacecraft buzzing Mars on its way to a rare metal asteroid
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — A NASA spacecraft Chasing a rare metal asteroid release past mars We took thousands of photos this week to increase the gravity as practice for the main event in 2029.
The robot explorer, named Psyche like the asteroid it is chasing, will pass by with a slingshot red planet Friday at 12.333 mph (19.848 km/h).
It will be a particularly close flyby, with Psyche passing within 2,800 miles (4,500 kilometers) of Mars, equivalent to the distance between the east and west coasts of the United States. It will then move toward the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, home to its tempting target.
During the Mars pass, all science instruments of the spacecraft will be on. NASA’s two Mars rovers, along with a small fleet of U.S. and European orbiters, will make simultaneous surface and atmospheric observations for comparison purposes.
Psyche’s cameras are already photographing Mars; When approached, it looks like a crescent, and when viewed in the rearview mirror, it looks like an almost full sphere. Imaging team leader Jim Bell of Arizona State University said in a statement that the different views will do double duty, allowing operators to fine-tune their devices and deliver “just beautiful pictures.”
While the asteroid belt is filled with millions of objects, most are made of rock or ice. Only a small percentage are thought to be rich in metals, such as Psyche, a potato-shaped asteroid roughly 173 miles long and 144 miles wide (278 kilometers by 232 kilometers).
Scientists suspect the asteroid may be the exposed nickel and iron core of a new planet destroyed by cosmic collisions. Examining such an object closely could provide information about the emergence of our solar system 4.6 billion years ago and why and how life emerged on Earth.
The spacecraft, launched in 2023, is in the middle of its six-year meandering journey to Psyche, which lies on the outer edges of the asteroid belt, three times farther from the Sun than Earth. It is expected to arrive in 2029 and enter orbit around the asteroid for a two-year study. The minivan-sized spacecraft is powered by solar-powered electric propulsion using xenon gas thrusters.
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