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"I've never seen anything like it," says a NASA spokesperson.
NASA plans to launch a mission to one of the rarest types of asteroids in the solar system on October 12 from the Kennedy Space Center after a delay related to the spacecraft's cold nitrogen gas engines. "NASA is just days away from launching a mission to a unique asteroid that can tell us how planets like our Earth formed!" said Michelle Handleman, a spokeswoman for NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, in a statement.
The Psyche spacecraft will make a six-year journey to the metal-rich asteroid, also called Psyche, orbiting the Sun between Mars and Jupiter. The mission plans for the spacecraft to orbit the asteroid for 26 months, mapping and studying its properties in "unprecedented detail," Handleman said.
NASA's Psyche spacecraft will spiral toward the asteroid Psyche. It is expected to arrive at the asteroid about six years after its launch.
"This asteroid is unique in that it is composed of a significant amount of metal and may be residual core material from the planet's building blocks," she added. Psyche, 173 miles long at its longest point, is the largest of about nine asteroids in our solar system that appear to be composed primarily of metal such as iron and nickel, said Lori Glaze, director of NASA's Planetary Science Division.
The mission was delayed by a week so that NASA could spend more time completing checks on parameters used to control the spacecraft's gas engines, including adjusting them for warmer temperature forecasts.
The mission is managed by Arizona State University, and NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory is responsible for mission management, operations, and navigation. NASA plans to broadcast the launch live on NASA TV and on social media.
NASA plans to launch a mission to one of the rarest types of asteroids in the solar system on October 12 from the Kennedy Space Center after a delay related to the spacecraft's cold nitrogen gas engines. "NASA is just days away from launching a mission to a unique asteroid that can tell us how planets like our Earth formed!" said Michelle Handleman, a spokeswoman for NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, in a statement.
The Psyche spacecraft will make a six-year journey to the metal-rich asteroid, also called Psyche, orbiting the Sun between Mars and Jupiter. The mission plans for the spacecraft to orbit the asteroid for 26 months, mapping and studying its properties in "unprecedented detail," Handleman said.
NASA's Psyche spacecraft will spiral toward the asteroid Psyche. It is expected to arrive at the asteroid about six years after its launch.
"This asteroid is unique in that it is composed of a significant amount of metal and may be residual core material from the planet's building blocks," she added. Psyche, 173 miles long at its longest point, is the largest of about nine asteroids in our solar system that appear to be composed primarily of metal such as iron and nickel, said Lori Glaze, director of NASA's Planetary Science Division.
The mission was delayed by a week so that NASA could spend more time completing checks on parameters used to control the spacecraft's gas engines, including adjusting them for warmer temperature forecasts.
The mission is managed by Arizona State University, and NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory is responsible for mission management, operations, and navigation. NASA plans to broadcast the launch live on NASA TV and on social media.
