Psyche: A 2023 mission to a metallic asteroid between Mars and Jupiter.
Video Transcript
Imagine a metallic world, between Mars and Jupiter
With answers about the core of our own planet: Psyche
On October 5, 2023 an Orbiter, also named Psyche, will launch on a 4 year trip to reach the Psyche asteroid.
The Psyche mission will test a sophisticated new laser communication technology that encodes data in photons at near-infrared wavelengths (rather than radio waves) to communicate between a probe in deep space and Earth.
This will be a first for mankind, exploring a new type of world made of metal, not rock and ice.
Scientists have to infer the presence of metallic cores on Earth, because they lie unreachably far below our planets’ rocky mantles and crusts.
Because we cannot see or measure Earth’s core directly we can study Psyche and compare.
Psyche offers a unique window into the violent history of collisions and accretion that created terrestrial planets.
Psyche was found in 1852 by Italian astronomer Annibale de Gasparis, who named it for the goddess of the soul in ancient Greek mythology.
Psyche has an approximate diameter of 140 miles (226 KM), or about the length of Massachusetts without Cape Cod
Footage: NASA
Info and footage: www.nasa.gov/psyche
Script and Video Editing: Jef Gray
Production: International Peace and Film Festival
