SE Valley Times

Arizona State University (ASU) is making significant strides in space exploration, with the Psyche mission marking a notable achievement. Led by ASU Regents Professor Lindy Elkins-Tanton, the NASA Psyche Discovery mission aims to explore one of the few metal-rich asteroids in our solar system. "Humans have sent astronauts to the moon, sent robotic explorers to rocky planets like Mars, to gas giants like Jupiter, icy giants like Uranus and Neptune, but never to an object made of metal," Elkins-Tanton states.

The Psyche spacecraft embarked on its journey in October 2023 and is expected to reach its destination after a six-year voyage covering 2.2 billion miles. The mission could provide insights into the core of a failed planet and enhance understanding of rocky planets' metal interiors, including Earth’s.

ASU's School of Earth and Space Exploration (SESE), founded in 2006 under President Michael Crow's vision for transdisciplinary research, has been instrumental in these advancements. Meenakshi “Mini” Wadhwa, SESE director and principal scientist for the Mars Sample Return program, emphasizes the importance of understanding how rocky habitable worlds evolved: "The scale of everything that you observe in the universe and the time frames involved in these processes gives perspective on human existence."

ASU ranks among the top universities for NASA-funded research expenditures. The university’s projects span missions from the moon to Europa and beyond. Professor Jim Bell highlights ASU's impact: "We really are changing the world."

Phil Christensen's contributions have also been significant; his team developed instruments for various missions including NASA’s OSIRIS-REx asteroid sample return mission. Christensen remarks on their capabilities: "OTES was the first NASA-certified, designed, built and tested instrument on the Tempe campus."

SESE fosters interdisciplinary collaboration among scientists and engineers within shared spaces at ASU’s Interdisciplinary Science and Technology Building IV (ISTB IV). This approach contrasts with traditional academic structures where disciplines are often siloed.

Bell describes this collaborative environment: “Let’s get people who are needed from a systems perspective into the same room together.” Wadhwa adds that SESE brings together diverse fields such as geosciences, planetary sciences, astrobiology, astronomy, astrophysics alongside engineering.

ASU faculty members are involved in several pioneering space projects including CubeSats like LunaH-Map designed by Associate Professor Craig Hardgrove which searches for water ice on the moon. Emeritus Professor Mark Robinson leads investigations using data from Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (LROC) aiding future Artemis lunar missions.

Christensen's team built E-THEMIS imager for Europa Clipper mission set to launch soon exploring Jupiter’s moon Europa—an endeavor dubbed “Holy Grail” by scientist Steve Squyres due its potential discovery implications regarding extraterrestrial life beneath icy surfaces.

Professor Evgenya Shkolnik developed SPARCS CubeSat focusing on exoplanet environments outside our solar system seeking signs conducive towards life detection efforts elsewhere across galaxies far beyond ours today—a testament towards humanity's quest unraveling cosmic mysteries anew each day anew always evermore again still further yet ahead tomorrow now forevermore...

"We are training future scientists who will explore space," says Bell emphasizing education alongside research endeavors shaping tomorrow’s explorers today here now always forevermore onward bound ever forward looking skyward reaching outward upward higher beyond limits known hitherto unseen unimagined before anew once more...