NASA Will Visit Full Metal Psyche Asteroids Next Year

The Psyche Space Aircraft (photo: dock. NASA)

JAKARTA - NASA doesn't seem to be visiting the Psyche asteroid anytime soon. The space agency rescheduled Psyche's mission in October 2023.

The spacecraft, also dubbed the small car-sized Psyche, was scheduled to launch earlier this year, but NASA postponed the mission after realizing the dedicated navigation software would not be ready in time for this year's launch.

The lessons learned from Psyche will be implemented across our mission portfolio. I am pleased with Psyche's scientific insights during his lifetime and his promise to contribute to our understanding of the core of our own planet," said NASA's Science Mission Directorate associate Thomas Zurbuchen in a statement.

If there are no obstacles in the launch of the mission, NASA will use the craft to explore the asteroid Psyche, which orbits the Sun in the main asteroid belt between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter.

Scientists believe the metal-filled asteroid could be the core of the protoplanetary body, a planet that has never been fully formed.

The protoplanet is claimed to provide scientists with a glimpse into the inner structure of a rocky planet that is usually hidden by miles.

Launching The Independent, Saturday, October 29, after next year's mission, the Psyche spacecraft will be flown back in 2026, after traveling more than 1 billion miles.

Psyche akan menjadi yang terbaru dalam rangkaian misi asteroid NASA. Di mana saat ini pesawat ruang angkasa menjadi-Rex sedang sedang perjalanan kembali ke Bumi membawa sampel dari asteroid dekat Bumi Bennu yang diambil pada 2020.

Then on September 26, NASA's Double Asteroid Transition Test (DART) successfully crashed a spacecraft into a small asteroid Dimorophos to change its orbit, proving such a mission could change the orbit of an asteroid that threatens Earth.

And lastly, Lucy's mission a few weeks ago requested the help of Earth's gravity towards Jupiter's Trojan asteroid. Lucy will arrive at the asteroid in the next 12 years.