Hi everybody, welcome back to the show. Today we're going to be delving into one of the most ambitious space missions ever undertaken. In less than 80 days, NASA and SpaceX will join forces to launch the Psyche spacecraft on a journey that spans 2.5 billion miles.
Now this voyage aims to explore the mystery is of an asteroid nestled within the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, known as 16 Psyche. This asteroid, unlike any other, is made-up largely of iron and nickel, leading to estimates of its worth reaching an incredible 10,000 quadrillion dollars.
But monetary value aside, 16 Psyche presents an unparalleled opportunity for us to study a world that may closely resemble the iron core of Earth. Today, we're going to be diving deep into the fascinating details of this mission. Examining the tireless work of NASA and SpaceX as they prepare for this Monumentus launch. Will be discussing the technologies involved in exploring the scientific and potential. Will be discussing the technologies involved in exploring the scientific and
potential economic implication. Our journey will take us from the Space Launch Complex 39, a site at Kennedy Space Center, all the way to the heart of the asteroid belt. We'll reveal how Psyche the spacecraft will utilize solar electric propulsion to traverse the vast cosmic expanse and how it will help scientists unlock the secrets of the metal rich asteroid Psyche over a 26 month research period. And we'll get right into that after this quick break from our sponsors. So stick with us.
We'll be right back in under 80 days. History will be made as NASA. And SpaceX partnered to launch a solar powered spacecraft on a voyage that will span 2.5 billion miles. This journey is into the heart of our solar system, and it'll propel humanity further into the cosmos than ever before to the main asteroid belt situated between Mars and Jupiter. Now what's the purpose of this mission, though? It's to lay bare the mysteries of an enigmatic asteroid designated 16 Psyche.
The metallic composition of 16 Psyche, chiefly iron and nickel, has been the source of much speculation and excitement, and estimates pegged the potential worth of this asteroid at an astronomical 10,000 quadrillion dollars. That's a figure that could revolutionize economies and industry as we know them. But beyond the material riches lies an ever more significant treasure, a unique opportunity for planetary scientists to study an iron core that looks
like. And could be like the center of our own Earth Now this mission will expand our understanding of these iron cores and may well unveil an entirely new class of metal worlds in our solar system. Now, NASA has recently provided an online update regarding the mission, revealing that a team of around 30 dedicated engineers and technicians working tirelessly to ready the spacecraft, dubbed Psyche, in accordance with its asteroid
target. Now, as per the schedule, Psyche will be launched atop a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket blasting off from Space Complex 39 a Kennedy Space Center, Thursday, October 5th, 2023 at 10:38 AM Eastern Time. Now, this launch window remains open until Wednesday, October 25th, 2023, offering multiple opportunities for a successful liftoff, although Falcon Heavy has been typically utilized to launch heavy satellites. Psyche marks its maiden interplanetary launch milestone for the vehicle.
Our focus has shifted to safely completing the final mechanical closeout of the spacecraft and preparing the team for operations at Henry Stone, Psyche's project manager at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, they said. We are counting down the days to the launch and following Earth's gravity escape, the Psyche spacecraft will utilize solar electric propulsion.
To accomplish its six year journey to asteroid Psyche now asteroid Psyche, measuring approximately 173 miles at its widest point, presents an extraordinary opportunity to examine a metal rich celestial body.
Scientists hypothesize that the asteroid might be a remnant core of a planetisimal in early planet's building block, and once Psyche reaches the asteroid, it'll spend no less than 26 months orbiting it. Gathering in valuable images and other data to illuminate its composition and its history. And before this can occur, though, the assembly, testing and launch operations phase needs to be completed by the team of engineers and technicians.
And after wrapping up several weeks of functional testing of the science instruments and spacecraft hardware and software, the team is set to finalize the spacecraft preparations. Now these final stages include removing the remaining testing cables. Reinstalling previously removed exterior panels for accessibility and completing the thermal blanketing later this month, the team will integrate and test the deployment of the immense solar arrays. By mid August.
The slow and careful progress of loading all 2392 pounds of propellant, the neutral gas xenon, will commence. Now. Louis Dominguez, the systems and electrical lead for assembly, test and launch operations express confidence in the progress made thus far stating. We are moving forward and we're confident that when we're on the pad, we'll be ready to hit the button. The Psyche mission is a product of numerous collaborators. Arizona State University leads the endeavor.
NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of Caltech in Pasadena, takes on the roles of overall management, system engineering, integration testing and mission operations. Max, our technologies in Palo Alto, CA supplied the high power solar electric propulsion spacecraft chassis. Now, the spacecraft will also carry a technology demonstration instrument, the Deep Space Optical Communications.
This tool will be used to test high data rate laser communications that could potentially be employed by future NASA missions. Psyche is the 14th mission selected as part of NASA's Discovery program, overseen by the agency's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, AL, and as humanity edges closer to this groundbreaking launch. We're getting excited. Everyone's getting excited about it. It's going to be one of the most monumental launches in the history of humankind.
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