Psyche (spacecraft)
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Artist's impression of the Psyche spacecraft
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| Mission type | Planetary science |
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| Operator | NASA · ASU |
| Mission duration | Planned: 2 years |
| Start of mission | |
| Launch date | October 2023 |
| 16 Psyche orbiter | |
| Orbital insertion | 2030 |
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Psyche mission insignia
Psyche is an orbiter mission that will explore the origin of planetary cores by studying the metallic asteroid 16 Psyche. This asteroid may be the exposed iron core of a protoplanet, likely the remnant of a violent collision with another object that stripped off the outer crust. Lindy Elkins-Tanton of Arizona State University in Tempe, Arizona is the Principal Investigator, who proposed this mission to NASA's Discovery Program. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory will manage the project.
16 Psyche is the heaviest known M-type asteroid, and is thought to be the exposed iron core of a protoplanet. Radar observations of the asteroid from Earth indicate an iron–nickel composition. On January 4, 2017, the Psyche mission was chosen along with the Lucy mission as NASA's next Discovery class mission.
Psyche was submitted as part of a call for proposals for the next mission(s) for Discovery Program that closed in February 2015. It was shortlisted on September 30, 2015, as one of five finalists and awarded $3 million for further proposal development. One aspect of selection was enduring the "site visit" in which about 30 NASA personnel come and interview, inspect, and question the proposers and their spacecraft plan.
On January 4, 2017, it was selected along with Lucy as one of two winners of this round of Discovery mission selection, with launch set for 2023 as the 14th Discovery mission.
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