Princeton University Special Seminar

The asteroid (16) Psyche may be the metal-rich remnant of a differentiated planetesimal, or it may be a highly reduced, metal-rich asteroidal material that never differentiated. The NASA Psyche mission aims to determine Psyche’s provenance. How did we choose the science instruments we’d need, when there was not even a photo of the surface, and how are we preparing the team to interpret the data with an open mind? I’ll describe the current state of knowledge about the possible solar system regions of origin for Psyche prior to its implantation into the asteroid belt, the physical and chemical processes that can enrich metal in an asteroid, and possible meteoritic analogs. Then, I’ll show the process our science team is going through to prepare us to produce the best possible science once the spacecraft arrives at the asteroid.