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https://theconversation.com/nasas-psyche-asteroid-mission-a-3-6-billion-kilometre-journey-to-the-centre-of-the-earth-215707>
"Psyche was the Greek goddess of the soul, born a mere mortal and later married
to Eros, the God of love. Who knows why the Italian astronomer Annibale de
Gasparis gave her name to a celestial object he observed one night in 1852?
Psyche was only the 16th “asteroid” ever discovered: inhabitants of the Solar
System that were neither the familiar planets nor the occasional visitors known
as comets. Today we know the asteroid belt between the orbits of Mars and
Jupiter contains millions of space rocks, ranging in size from the dwarf planet
Ceres down to tiny pebbles and grains of dust.
Among all these, Psyche is still special. With an average diameter of around
226km, the potato-shaped planetoid is the largest “M-type” asteroid, made
largely of iron and nickel, much like Earth’s core.
Last week NASA launched a spacecraft to rendezvous with Psyche. The mission
will take a six-year, 3.6 billion kilometre journey to gather clues that Earth
scientists like me will interrogate for information about the inaccessible
interior of our own world."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
