For the first time ever, we are
exploring a world made not of rock or ice,
but of metal.
Mission to a
Metal World
Deep within the terrestrial planets, including Earth, scientists infer the presence of metallic cores, but these lie unreachably far below the planets’ rocky mantles and crusts. The asteroid Psyche offers a unique window into these building blocks of planet formation and the opportunity to investigate a previously unexplored type of world.
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How do we estimate the resources we need to cover future unknowns? In every flight project — indeed in every complex project — the costs tend to go up over time from the first estimates...
Psyche is both the name of an asteroid orbiting the Sun between Mars and Jupiter — and the name of a NASA space mission to visit that asteroid, led by Arizona State University. Join the Psyche...
Students at Arizona State University from 13 different majors submitted unique interpretations of the emotions surrounding the Psyche exploration mission.
People have asked me what a Chief Engineer does. Here’s what I think they do (I hope the Psyche management team agrees), and also how I got to be one.
My first exploration of an “all-metal” world was in seventh grade. Little did I know, I’d be contributing in two different ways to a “heavy metal” NASA mission.
We reduce the amount of propellant we need to take with us on the Psyche mission by using Solar Electric Propulsion. Here’s a brief description about how electric thrusters work.
Where Are We Now?
A space mission typically has six phases, A-F. The Psyche Mission is currently in “Phase B,” which lasts until May 2019. In this phase, the mission is focused on preliminary design.
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