2023-10-13 23:23:00
DR Hespress French – News from Morocco High-tech Hespress FRSaturday October 14, 2023 – 01:23
NASA launched a probe Friday to explore a strange metallic asteroid. Scientists believe the asteroid Psyche may be a fragment of the metallic core of a long-dead protoplanet that formed early in the formation of the solar system.
By studying it closely, researchers hope to learn more about what happened in the solar system billions of years ago.
The space probe took off aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket. The spacecraft is expected to reach Psyche in 2029.
Once there, the spacecraft is expected to study the asteroid from orbit for about two years.
“Scientists believe that Psyche may be part of the core of a planetesimal – an early planetary building block – and composed of a mixture of rock and iron-nickel metal,” NASA wrote in a statement.
“The metal will not be mined; it will be studied to give researchers a better idea of what constitutes the Earth’s core and how rocky planets formed in our solar system,” added the US space agency.
1697252512
#NASA #launches #mission #study #metallic #asteroid