1. NASA Selects Psyche Mission to Study a Giant Metal Asteroid in the Main Asteroid Belt

2. Psyche will become the first mission to the metal world, 16 Psyche.
Launch date: 2022
Arrival date: 2026
Photo: info: *****dates changed on 5/25/2017*****
Orbit information
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3. Info: http://www. jpl. nasa. gov/missions/psyche/; photo: https://sese
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Discovered in 1852, Psyche is an asteroid orbiting the Sun between Mars and Jupiter, is made almost entirely of nickel-iron metal.
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4. Psyche may have a strong remnant magnetic field.
Psyche may have a strong remnant magnetic field.
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5. Science Goals:
Understanding a previously unexplored building block of planet formation, the iron core. 
Explore a new type of world. For the first time, examine a world made not of rock and ice, but metal. 
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Nickel-iron meteorite
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6. Science Objectives:
Determine whether Psyche is a core, or if it is un-melted materials.
Characterize Psyche's topography.
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7. The Psyche spacecraft will use ion propulsion.
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The Psyche spacecraft will use ion propulsion.
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8. Psyche’s Instrument Payload:
The Psyche Multispectral Imager
Psyche Gamma Ray and Neutron Spectrometer
Psyche Magnetometer
Radio Science
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10. Psyche will become the first mission to the metal world, 16 Psyche, and will map its features, structure, composition, and magnetic field of this massive metal asteroid, while examining a landscape unlike anything explored before. Psyche will teach us about the hidden cores of the Earth, Mars, Mercury and Venus. 
Launch date: 2022
Arrival date: 2026
Photo: info:
Orbit information
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11. https://sese.asu.edu/research/psyche
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12. Discovered in 1852, Psyche is an asteroid orbiting the Sun between Mars and Jupiter, is made almost entirely of nickel-iron metal. It is thought to be the core of an early planet stripped of its rocky exterior by collisions, and so it offers a unique look into the violet collisions that created Earth and the other terrestrial planets. 
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Psyche is the only metal world in the solar system: it is unique and, in terms of formation processes, improbable. 
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13. https://sese.asu.edu/research/psyche
The asteroid is most likely a survivor of violent hit-and-run collisions, common when the solar system was forming. Thus Psyche may be able to tell us how Earth’s core and the cores of the other terrestrial planets came to be.
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14.
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15. Science Goals:
Understanding a previously unexplored building block of planet formation, the iron core. 
Look inside terrestrial planets, including Earth, by directly examining the interior of a differentiated body, which otherwise could not be seen.
Explore a new type of world. For the first time, examine a world made not of rock and ice, but metal. 
Info: photo:
Nickel-iron meteorite
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16. Science Objectives:
Determine whether Psyche is a core, or if it us in-melted materials.
Determine whether small metal bodies incorporate the same light elements as are expected in the Earth's high-pressure core.
Determine whether Psyche was formed under conditions more oxidizing or more reducing than Earth's core.
Characterize Psyche's topography.
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17. The Psyche spacecraft will use solar electric propulsion, using electricity generated from solar arrays to ionize atoms of the propellant xenon. These ions are then expelled by a strong electric field out the back of the spacecraft, producing thrust.
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18. Psyche’s Instrument Payload:
The Psyche Multispectral Imager Provides high-resolution images using filters to discriminate between 16 Psyche's metallic and silicate constituents (Arizona State University)
Psyche Gamma Ray and Neutron Spectrometer Will detect, measure, and map 16 Psyche's elemental composition (Johns Hopkins University)
Psyche Magnetometer Designed to detect and measure the remnant magnetic field of the asteroid (MIT and UCLA)
Radio Science The Psyche mission will use the X-band radio telecommunications system to measure 16 Psyche's gravity field to high precision. When combined with topography derived from onboard imagery, this will provide information on the interior structure of Psyche (MIT and JPL)
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