How to watch Psyche mission live in the UK today and what time it launches
NASA is set to launch its Psyche spacecraft on Friday, after inclement weather postponed its planned lift-off date of 12 October.
The craft is poised to travel 2.2 billion miles to the far edge of the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter in order to learn more about how rocky planets such as Earth were formed.
The space research arm of the US government plans to launch the spacecraft atop a SpaceX Falcon Heavy Rocket at Kennedy Space Centre in Florida on Friday, providing weather conditions are conducive.
The mission is led by Arizona State University, while NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory is responsible for mission management, operations and navigation.
“The team has worked tirelessly to prepare the spacecraft for its journey to a one-of-a-kind asteroid,” said Henry Stone, Psyche’s project manager at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in southern California.
“All spacecraft systems, science instruments and software have been integrated and extensively tested, and the spacecraft is fully configured for flight. We look forward to the launch and, more importantly, to accomplishing the mission’s objectives, marking yet another historic voyage of scientific discovery.”
What is Psyche?
NASA’s spacecraft Psyche is named after the metal-rich asteroid, 16 Psyche, which is deemed to be one of the most fascinating objects in the main asteroid belt.
Owing to its inaccessibility, research on the magnetic field has only been done indirectly.
Scientists think the asteroid is composed of the exposed core of a planetesimal – a small body that formed during planet formation as gas and dust around a star collapsed in dense patches.
Scientists hope that studying this 173-mile-wide, potato-shaped rock will tell us more about the core of rocky planets such as Earth, Mercury, Venus, Mars and the Moon, which all have a metal core at their centre.
This core is also the source of Earth’s magnetic field, which is tied to our planet’s habitability.
The mission aims to map the asteroid’s surface and study its unique properties, in a bid to learn more about our solar system’s history.
“Psyche gives us the opportunity to visit a core the only way that humankind can ever do, and so we hope to learn something about what’s inside the Earth and other rocky planets by visiting Psyche,” Lindy Elkins-Tanton, Psyche’s principal investigator, said.
How long will the Psyche mission take?
Psyche is expected to journey through space for nearly six years before reaching its destination in 2029.
“I think it’s going to really surprise us and change our views about our solar system when we get there, and it’s an incredible opportunity to be a part of the team making that happen,” Elkins-Tanton said.
When will NASA launch ‘Psyche’ – and how can I watch?
The Psyche launch is currently set to take place at 3.19pm BST on Friday 13 October, although there is a chance this could be pushed back to Saturday if weather conditions are poor.
Launch weather officer, Arlena Moses, said: “One of the main watch items now has kind of shifted from just the storms in the area to our liftoff winds.
“Behind this warm front, and especially with that area of low pressure coming towards us, we expect winds to pick up very quickly out of the south and south-west. We could see 20 to 25 miles an hour [32 to 40 kph], likely some stronger gusts with that as well.”
You can watch proceedings live from 2pm GMT on NASA TV and from 3pm on the official i livestream.
