CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla., Aug. 14 (UPI) -- Preparations are proceeding for the early October launch of a NASA orbiter that uses futuristic electric propulsion technology for a rendezvous with 16 Psyche, the heart of a demolished planet believed to be made almost entirely of iron.
Named after its interplanetary target, the $985 million mission is intended to help scientists determine whether the 140-mile-wide asteroid -- which varies between 235 million and 309 million miles away -- formed like Earth.
The Psyche spacecraft, at 10 feet-by-8 feet, is scheduled to lift off Oct. 5 aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket from Kennedy Space Center in Florida. That will accelerate the probe to the speed it needs to escape the gravity wells of Earth and the sun.
Then, the sophisticated space probe will start one of its four Hall-effect thrusters to accelerate toward its final destination.
[Source.](https://www.upi.com/Science_News/2023/08/14/psyche-asteroid-NASA-satellite-JPL/5881692022889/)
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CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla., Aug. 14 (UPI) -- Preparations are proceeding for the early October launch of a NASA orbiter that uses futuristic electric propulsion technology for a rendezvous with 16 Psyche, the heart of a demolished planet believed to be made almost entirely of iron.
>
Named after its interplanetary target, the $985 million mission is intended to help scientists determine whether the 140-mile-wide asteroid -- which varies between 235 million and 309 million miles away -- formed like Earth.
>
The Psyche spacecraft, at 10 feet-by-8 feet, is scheduled to lift off Oct. 5 aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket from Kennedy Space Center in Florida. That will accelerate the probe to the speed it needs to escape the gravity wells of Earth and the sun.
>
Then, the sophisticated space probe will start one of its four Hall-effect thrusters to accelerate toward its final destination.
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