This Week in Space 73

Not all asteroids are created equal, and 16 Psyche, one of the largest, is extremely dense in metals, making it unique. Is the 140-mile giant the leftover core of a failed planet, or a more recent gravitational accretion of metal-rich bodies? Will it help us to understand how metallic cores—like Earth's—form and function? NASA's sending a spacecraft, also called Pysche, to find out. The mission is led by Dr. Lindy Elkins-Tanton, who joins Rod and bestselling author Daniel Suarez to explain what makes Psyche—both the asteroid and the mission—so fascinating.

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Links

• Voyager 2 Loses Touch
• Transatlantic Space Stations
• Voyager mission clock
• Psyche's NASA Mission Page
• NASA's Psyche asteroid info page
• Dr. Lindy Elkins-Tanton
• Beagle Learning