Instrumentation for High-Priority Science on Hypothesized Surfaces – ASU – A
INSTITUTION
Arizona State University (ASU)
CLASS
Iridium Class (2024 – 2025)
STUDENT TEAM
ACADEMIC GUIDANCE
PROJECT DESCRIPTION
The NASA Psyche mission is an orbiter mission to the metal-rich asteroid, Psyche, in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. The spacecraft, which launched in October 2023 and will arrive at the asteroid in mid-2029, will study the asteroid from orbit and will not land on the surface. However, scientists working on this current mission are already thinking about high priority science observations that could be made by a follow-on surface-based mission to Psyche in order to inform important questions about Psyche’s formation history and current conditions. These observations particularly focus on measurements related to mineralogy, mineral composition, regolith composition (such as how much is metal and how much is silicate), regolith grain size, shape, depth, and cohesion, whether there is “bedrock” or only loose material, and the properties of the subsurface of the asteroid. The team will identify what instruments (on a lander or rover) would be needed to accomplish one or more of these science observations, focusing on things that can only be measured in contact or close vicinity with the surface. A wide variety of methods have already been applied to other planetary bodies that can serve as background for the work, such as different types of spectroscopy, imaging, temperature, magnetic, seismometer, or other sensors, and other physical systems such as trenchers, drills, rasps. Using Psyche’s known and hypothesized environmental and surface conditions, which have been laid out in recent scientific reports, and keeping in mind other constraints such as its gravity, length of day and year, rotation, surface temperature, the team will identify an optimal instrument suite, determine the mass and power requirements, and address other constraints such as placement of the instruments on the lander/rover for maximum safety as well as science return.