Aster › Space program › 16 Psyche
16 Psyche
Position on the route: 10/45 · level needed 62 · journey (Mk0 engine) 10.6 h
By the numbers
| Diameter | ≈226 km |
|---|---|
| Density | ≈4 g/cm³ |
| Year | 5 Earth years |
| Type | M-type (metallic) asteroid |
The story
Psyche is thought to be a mostly iron–nickel metallic body, perhaps the impact-stripped remnant of the core of a larger object. We cannot look directly into Earth’s core; in one way Psyche may show us one.
NASA’s Psyche spacecraft launched in 2023 and arrives in 2029. The guess that platinum-group metals may be abundant symbolises the ‘asteroid mining’ debate; the often-quoted value of some ten quintillion dollars is a mathematical game: bring it back and the price collapses.
Missions
- Psyche (NASA, launched 2023, arriving 2029): magnetic field and composition
- Arecibo and Keck radar observations: estimates of the metal content
Colony note
A mining world: iron, nickel, platinum-group metals. What will decide the economy is the cost of bringing it home.
What probes bring back
- Density 4 g/cm³ and its radar echo: largely iron–nickel; possibly the remnant of a planetary core.
- Platinum-group metals are concentrated in the roughly 226-km body.