PSYCHE
Source: NASA
Why in News?
NASA delayed the Psyche mission to the asteroid because of the late software delivery
What is Psyche?
Psyche is an asteroid and it is unique because it appears to be the exposed nickel-iron core of an early planet.
One of the building blocks of our solar system
Psyche asteroid is in between Mars and Jupiter, and is orbiting the Sun
Psyche is a large M-type asteroid discovered by the Italian astronomer Annibale De Gasparis working in Naples on 17 March 1852 and named after the Greek Mythological figure Psyche
About Psyche's Mission
NASA's Psyche mission is a journey to a unique metal asteroid orbiting the sun between Mars and Jupiter
Psyche was selected in 2017 by NASA under the Discovery programme, which is a low-line cost competition mission led by a single principal investigator
Objectives of the Mission
- To understand how planets and other bodies are separated into layers such as cores, mantles, and crusts
- To examine an asteroid made of a metal
- To explore early eras of the Solar System
Deep Space Optical Communication (DSOC)
The Psyche mission will test a sophisticated new laser communication technology that encodes data in photons at near-infrared wavelengths to communicate between a probe in deep space and Earth.
Using light instead of the radio allows the spacecraft to communicate more data in a given amount of time
The DSOC team is based at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory
