NASA has foretell two challenging commission that will bet towards asteroid to unlock some of the secrets of the formation of the solar system . The newDiscoverymissions , Lucy and Psyche , are expect to plunge early next X .
“ Lucy will call in a target - rich environs of Jupiter ’s mysterious Trojan asteroid , while Psyche will study a unique metal asteroid that ’s never been visited before , ” said Thomas Zurbuchen from NASA ’s Science Mission Directorate in astatement . “ This is what Discovery Program missions are all about – boldly going to topographic point we ’ve never been to enable groundbreaking science . ”
The Psyche mission will visit asteroid 16 Psyche , an asteroid like no other . While most object in the asteroid belt are icy or rocky , 16 Psyche is mostly made of branding iron and Ni , similar in authorship to Earth ’s meat – which is the reason for the mission . Its particular composition suggests that the asteroid , which is 210 kilometer ( 130 land mile ) in diameter , might be the bring out marrow of a failed major planet .
“ This is an opportunity to search a novel case of world – not one of rock ‘n’ roll or ice , but of metal , ” explain Psyche principal investigator Lindy Elkins - Tanton of Arizona State University in Tempe . “ 16 Psyche is the only known target of its kind in the solar system , and this is the only way human being will ever visit a core . We get wind about inner space by see out outer space . ”
The other mission , Lucy , will look at theTrojan asteroids , the two peculiar radical of infinite rocks that sit around in Jupiter ’s orbit , one preceding and the other following the elephantine gas satellite . Lucy is wait to visit six of these objects and is equipped with engineering similar to ( but advance ) that which allowed New Horizons to successfully read Pluto .
“ This is a singular chance , ” enounce Harold F. Levison , main researcher of the Lucy mission from the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder , Colorado . “ Because the Trojans are remnants of the aboriginal material that formed the outer planets , they hold vital clues to decipher the account of the solar arrangement . Lucy , like the human fossil for which it is named , will revolutionise the understanding of our stemma . ”
Lucy is scheduled to launch in 2021 and Psyche will fly off in 2023 . These missions are the thirteenth and fourteenth missions within the Discovery Program . Previous success stories includeMESSENGER , the incredible observation of Mercury , andDawn’sstudy of Vesta and Ceres .
