French novelist Jules Verne thrilled 19th-century audiences with the tantalizing idea that a The journey to the centre of the EarthIt was plausible.
Scientists now acknowledge that Verne’s journey was science fiction. The extreme temperatures of the Earth’s interior – around 10,000 degrees Fahrenheit (5,537 Celsius) at the core – and the accompanying crushing pressure, which is millions of times more than at the surface, Stop people from going too deep.
There are still a few things to consider What is known about Earth’s interior?. Geophysicists, for instance, discovered that Earth’s core consists of an iron-nickel sphere that is 20 percent the radius of Earth, and surrounded with a shell made up of molten metal and nickel, which covers 15 percent the radius of Earth.
That, and the rest of our knowledge about our world’s interior, was learned indirectly – either by studying Earth’s magnetic fieldThe way earthquake waves are generated Bounce off different layersBelow the Earth’s surface.
However, indirect discovery is not without its limitations. How can scientists discover more about our planet’s deep interior?
I am a planetary scientistThink that outer space is the best place to learn about the inner Earth.
NASA’s Robotic mission on a metal planetThe launch date for the mission is 5 October 2023. That mission, the spacecraft traveling there, and the world it will explore all have the same name – Psyche. Since six years, I have been Psyche Team member.
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Psyche, the asteroid
Asteroids are tiny worldsSome are the size of small towns, while others are as big as small countries. They are the left-over building blocks of our Solar System’s first violent phase. A time of planetary creation.
Asteroids may be composed of ice, rock, or both. But 20 percent have a metal composition similar to that of Earth’s inner core.
The temptation is to think that these metallic asteroids were once pieces of cores from planets which have been ripped apart in ancient collisions. By studying these pieces, researchers could directly discover what a planet core looks like.
PsycheIt is the largest of the metal asteroids. Psyche, discovered in 1852, is about the same size as Massachusetts. It has a rounded shape that looks like a pincushion and orbits between MarsYou can also find out more about the following: JupiterThe main asteroid belt. Psyche is visible to amateur astronomers using a backyard microscope, but appears as a pinpoint.
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The Psyche Mission
NASA approved the US$1 Billion in Early 2017. Mission to Psyche. To do its work, there’s no need for the uncrewed spacecraft to land – instead, it will orbit the asteroid repeatedly and methodically, starting from 435 miles (700 kilometers) out and then going down to 46 miles (75 km) from the surface, and perhaps even lower.
The probe will spend the next 26 months, once it reaches the asteroid in August 2029. It will map the asteroid’s geology, gravity, and topography. It will also search for magnetic fields and compare the composition of the asteroid with what we think or know about Earth’s core.
Are there any answers to the central question: Is Psyche a real exposed planetary core or not? Is Psyche a big boulder of bedrock, a pile of boulders or something else? Are there clues that the previous outer layers of this small world – the crust and mantle – were violently stripped away long ago? What is the most crucial question? Can we extrapolate what we find out about Psyche in order to answer some of Earth’s mysteries?
Psyche, the spacecraft that Psyche is named after
The probe is roughly the same size as a large SUV. Solar panels, which are a bit larger than a court of tennis, provide power for the cameras, sensors, and other devices.
SpaceX Falcon Heavy rockets will launch Take Psyche Off the Earth. Psyche will take Psyche the rest of her way Ion propulsion is a reliable source of energy – the gentle pressure of ionized xenon gas jetting out of a nozzle provides a continuous, reliable and low-cost way to propel spacecraft out into the Solar System.
The journey is a spiral of 2,5 billion miles (4,3 billion km), which includes a gravity assisted flyby by Mars. This will take about six years. Throughout the voyage, the Psyche teams at NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (in Pasadena) and Arizona State University (in Tempe) will maintain regular contact with spacecraft. Our team will use the Internet to send and receive data. Deep Space Network of NASAMassive radio antennas
We will still gain a lot of knowledge on the formation of planets and the solar system, even if we discover that Psyche was not an ancient planetary center. Psyche, after all, is unlike any planet humans have ever seen.
Maybe we can’t yet journey to the center of the Earth, but robotic avatars to places like Psyche can help unlock the mysteries hidden deep inside the planets – including our own.
Jim BellProfessor of Earth and Space Exploration Arizona State University
This article was originally published by The ConversationCreative Commons licensed. Read the Original Article.
