Asteroid Psyche

[farmerben]

Launching on a falcon heavy right about now.

 

[tater]

Cool to have a thread for mission updates!

[JoeSchmuckatelli]

I'm wondering if they don't find a loosely-(gravity)-bound layer of 'regular asteroid' junk adhered to the exterior of the main body.  Possibly a lunar like layer of regolith that precludes sampling of the main body... 

I. E. Is it likely that the gravity of Psyche gathered up normal space junk during its lifetime such that reaching the presumed metallic core is difficult / impossible? 

Or is it more likely that any regolith layer would be more revealing of the interior due to bombardment lifted and gravity settled ejecta overpopulating any regolith layer with exactly what they're looking for? 

I know @IonStormis working on a different project... But you are a professional working in this field; are there any predictions about what the Psyche team might find? 

[magnemoe]

29 minutes ago, JoeSchmuckatelli said:

I'm wondering if they don't find a loosely-(gravity)-bound layer of 'regular asteroid' junk adhered to the exterior of the main body.  Possibly a lunar like layer of regolith that precludes sampling of the main body... 

I. E. Is it likely that the gravity of Psyche gathered up normal space junk during its lifetime such that reaching the presumed metallic core is difficult / impossible? 

Or is it more likely that any regolith layer would be more revealing of the interior due to bombardment lifted and gravity settled ejecta overpopulating any regolith layer with exactly what they're looking for? 

I know @IonStormis working on a different project... But you are a professional working in this field; are there any predictions about what the Psyche team might find? 

An interesting point,  it looks like at lest most of the smaller ones are junk piles, added on that most asteroids burns up in the atmosphere and that we get is warped with the fragments surviving. Like the meteorite crater in Arizona had to be pretty solid. While the one early 1900 in Russia was an junk pile. Downside is that the medium ones making multi megaton blasts are still dangerous even if air burst. 

[darthgently]

45 minutes ago, JoeSchmuckatelli said:

I'm wondering if they don't find a loosely-(gravity)-bound layer of 'regular asteroid' junk adhered to the exterior of the main body.  Possibly a lunar like layer of regolith that precludes sampling of the main body... 

I. E. Is it likely that the gravity of Psyche gathered up normal space junk during its lifetime such that reaching the presumed metallic core is difficult / impossible? 

Or is it more likely that any regolith layer would be more revealing of the interior due to bombardment lifted and gravity settled ejecta overpopulating any regolith layer with exactly what they're looking for? 

I know @IonStormis working on a different project... But you are a professional working in this field; are there any predictions about what the Psyche team might find? 

During the NASA live stream of launch someone stated in a Q and A that they currently expect a mostly metallic surface going by spectrum analysis, visual reflectivity, etc.  but would expect some detritus from afar collected here and there on the surface.  I'm paraphrasing and may be confusing with other vids I listened to in background the last few days

Edited October 15, 2023 by darthgently

[IonStorm]

2 hours ago, JoeSchmuckatelli said:

I'm wondering if they don't find a loosely-(gravity)-bound layer of 'regular asteroid' junk adhered to the exterior of the main body.  Possibly a lunar like layer of regolith that precludes sampling of the main body... 

I. E. Is it likely that the gravity of Psyche gathered up normal space junk during its lifetime such that reaching the presumed metallic core is difficult / impossible? 

Or is it more likely that any regolith layer would be more revealing of the interior due to bombardment lifted and gravity settled ejecta overpopulating any regolith layer with exactly what they're looking for? 

I know @IonStormis working on a different project... But you are a professional working in this field; are there any predictions about what the Psyche team might find? 

I'm out of my expertise of organic astrochemistry here, but the spectral classification (class M) is based on reflectance spectra mostly in the visible.  Such a reflectance is based on the topmost material, thus the preponderance of material in the spectrum is responsible for the class M feature: featureless spectrum, flat or red than blue and low-middle albedo. Thus, whatever geology is responsible for the  Class M spectra would be on display to the Psyche mission.   21 Lutetia was imaged by Rosetta in 2010 (Figure 1 ) is also a class M asteroid, though with a little lower density than more recent values for 16 Psyche.   The more recent Scott Manley video on Psyche discusses some of the astronomy of the object (Figure 2). OSIRIS-REx wishes Psyche an uneventful outbound cruise and a good luck at understanding this strange asteroid (Figure 3). 

Figure 1. Class M asteroid 21 Lutetia

 

Figure 2. Scott Manley discusses some 16 Psyche astronomy starting at 1:30.

 

Figure 3.  Curators take a break in the OSIRIS-REx cleanroom to watch the Psyche launch.

[JoeSchmuckatelli]

39 minutes ago, IonStorm said:

spectral classification

Man, that sent me down a rabbit hole of research... Thanks!  Also - I appreciate the S. Manley vid. 

41 minutes ago, IonStorm said:

Class M asteroid 21 Lutetia

Now that image is much closer to what I expect to see in 2029 than the rocky/iron images floating around lately.  

 

Appreciate the response!