This Week at NASA: Voyage to a Metallic Asteroid, Mars Simulation Milestone, and Founding Anniversary Festivities

NASA’s Psyche mission to a remote metallic asteroid will be equipped with a groundbreaking Deep Space Optical Communications (DSOC) system. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU

In readiness for an expedition to a metallic celestial body…

A significant juncture in a simulated mission to Mars…

And observing a significant date in NASA’s history…

These are some of the narratives we have for you in this week’s update from NASA.

Gearing Up for a Voyage to a Metallic World

NASA has scheduled the Psyche spacecraft’s liftoff for no sooner than October 12. The spacecraft is set to traverse a distance of 2.2 billion miles to investigate the Psyche asteroid, which is rich in metals and situated in the outer segments of the primary asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. This asteroid could offer insights into the genesis of terrestrial planets like Earth.

This constitutes NASA’s inaugural mission aimed at researching an asteroid predominantly composed of metals rather than rock or ice.

Simulated Mars Mission Passes the 100-Day Mark

NASA’s inaugural year-long CHAPEA Mars analog mission has reached its 100th day, with a volunteer crew of four housed in a 1,700-square-foot habitat at NASA’s Johnson Space Center. The crew is performing simulated tasks that astronauts will engage in during prospective manned missions to Mars.

Knowledge acquired from Artemis missions in lunar regions, coupled with simulated missions like CHAPEA, will contribute to our preparedness for dispatching astronauts to Mars.

NASA Commences Operations: The 65th Anniversary

October 1 signified the 65th anniversary of NASA’s official inception. Established to spearhead America’s civilian space exploration activities, the organization was formed as a countermeasure to Soviet progress in the domain of space exploration.

NASA adopted facets of its antecedent, the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, which had been instituted to promote research in aeronautics. Mere days after its formation, NASA initiated the United States’ first human spaceflight program.

NASA’s Student Airborne Research Program Marks 15 Years

During the summer, NASA’s Student Airborne Research Program (SARP) commemorated its 15th anniversary. This summer internship platform provides senior undergraduate students with practical research experience by including them in bona fide scientific investigations aboard NASA’s Airborne Science Program’s specialized research aircraft.

That concludes the topics for this week at NASA.

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