Nasa’s Psyche mission set to launch to ancient metal asteroid today: Live updates
Nasa is about to set off to a distant, metal asteroid that could tell us how planets form.
On Friday, the spacecraft – currently folded in the cargo bay of a SpaceX rocket – will leave from the Kennedy Space Centre and begin a mission that will see it arrive at what is thought to be an ancient remnant of a protoplanet in 2029.
Propelled by a system of solar-electric ion thrusters being used for the first time on an interplanetary mission, the spacecraft - about the size of a small van - is expected to reach its target on the outer fringes of the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter nearly six years from now.
It would then orbit Psyche for 26 months, scanning the asteroid with instruments built to measure the asteroid’s gravity, magnetic proprieties and composition. Psyche measures roughly 173 miles (279 km) across at its widest point.
The leading hypothesis for this asteroid’s origin is that Psyche is the once-molten, long-frozen inner hulk of a baby planet torn apart by collisions with other celestial bodies at the dawn of the solar system. It orbits the sun about three times farther than Earth, even at its closest to our planet.
GO for launch
15:17 , Andrew Griffin
The spacecraft’s team has given “go” for launch. That means there’s no objections from Nasa’s Psyche staff about the launch. (Which will happen in just over three minutes.)
Rocket now on its own power
15:15 , Andrew Griffin
The rocket that will carry the spacecraft away from Earth is now on internal power, using its own batteries rather than being powered from the ground.
Less than five minutes until launch.
Psyche will communicate with radio waves – but might also demonstrate new alternatives
15:08 , Andrew Griffin
Like other Nasa spacecraft, Psyche will communicate with the Earth through radio waves, which are sent through the Deep Space Network – a set of facilities that can send messages out into the depths of space. It will first speak to one in Canberra, and will send back messages back to Earth throughout its journey.
But hitching a ride along with Psyche is an optical demonstration, that uses lasers to communicate. Nasa hopes that will be another way of communicating through space, and will try it out on an experiment with Psyche.
Rocket surrounded by Lox
15:02 , Andrew Griffin
That’s not salmon but clouds: all of that liquid oxygen is pouring out of the rocket as it is loaded up with the propellant it needs to make it into space.
Why does this mission take so long?
15:01 , Andrew Griffin
Psyche won’t arrive at its asteroid (also called Psyche) for another six years, in 2029. That’s partly so that it can save fuel: the asteroid will conduct a Mars flyby, using the gravity of that planet to help fling the spacecraft further into space and on its way to the asteroid.
Psyche could teach us about our own planet
15:00 , Andrew Griffin
Psyche is due to become the first asteroid of its kind ever studied at close range by spacecraft. It is believed to consist largely of iron, nickel, gold and other metals whose collective hypothetical monetary value has been placed at 10 quadrillion dollars.
But the Psyche mission has nothing to do with space mining, according to scientists. Its objective is to gain insight into the formation of Earth and other rocky planets that are built around cores of molten metal.
Earth’s hidden molten center is too deep and too hot to ever be examined directly.
“So we say, tongue-in-cheek, that we’re going to outer space to explore inner space,” Lindy Elkins-Tanton, Psyche‘s principal investigator for NASA’s mission partner Arizona State University, told a briefing for reporters on Tuesday.
20 minutes until launch
14:58 , Andrew Griffin
There’s about 20 minutes left until Psyche sets off.
Weather looking favourable
14:56 , Andrew Griffin
The launch was supposed to happen yesterday (Thursday, October 12), but the weather was too stormy and it had to be delayed. It looked like the same might happen today.
But everything is looking good, and Nasa seems to be expecting today’s launch to go ahead.
Hello and welcome...
14:46 , Andrew Griffin
... to The Independent’s live coverage of the launch of Psyche, a mission to a distant asteroid.
