SE Valley Times

Lindy Elkins-Tanton, principal investigator of the NASA Psyche mission led by Arizona State University (ASU), is overseeing the spacecraft's progress as it journeys 2.2 billion miles to its namesake asteroid. The mission, launched in October 2023, aims to reach the metal-rich asteroid in August 2029. The team hypothesizes that this asteroid may provide insights into the formation of Earth and other terrestrial planets.

In addition to her work on the Psyche mission, Elkins-Tanton has helped develop an eight-hour online course titled “Countless Worlds in our Solar System: Asteroids, Comets and Meteorites.” Offered for free through ASU’s Career Catalyst platform, the course explores small celestial objects' roles in understanding solar system formation and history.

“We humans can’t resist. We’re still really focused on the planets,” said Elkins-Tanton. She noted that people have been observing planets for thousands of years but are only now beginning to understand the smaller objects throughout the solar system.

The course was developed with contributions from various experts at ASU and beyond. Key contributors include Cassie Bowman, Jim Bell, David Williams, Laurence Garvie, Scott Dickenshied, Jemma Davidson, Devin Schrader, Darryl Reano, Steve Semken, and other faculty members from ASU’s School of Earth and Space Exploration.

David Williams expressed his enthusiasm about sharing knowledge gained from previous missions like NASA’s Dawn mission to Vesta and Ceres. “I’m so pleased I was able to help with the development of this course,” he said.

As part of its journey, Psyche will make a gravity-assist flyby of Mars in May 2026. Jim Bell emphasized that while significant discoveries from Psyche are still forthcoming, the new course provides an excellent opportunity for interested individuals to learn about asteroid science.

Bob Mase from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory reported that as of early July 2024, Psyche is more than 260 million miles from Earth and traveling at 39,000 miles per hour around the sun. The spacecraft is currently in "cruise mode," powered by electric thrusters driven by large solar arrays performing as expected.

The flight team communicates with Psyche weekly to monitor its status and execute necessary maintenance activities. Mase stated that ensuring the spacecraft's health and thrusting capabilities remains their primary focus.

Elkins-Tanton acknowledged that while everything is proceeding smoothly so far, unforeseen challenges could arise at any time. The mission team continues preparing for data collection upon reaching Psyche in 2029.

“I feel like this is something that maybe is unappreciated,” she remarked about teamwork's critical role in analyzing data accurately without jumping to conclusions.

Reflecting on her long-term commitment since initiating this project in 2011 despite delays including a yearlong launch postponement, Elkins-Tanton remains patient and optimistic about achieving their scientific goals when they finally reach their destination.