Maxar Technologies in Palo Alto, California, provided the high-power solar electrical propulsion spacecraft chassis.Video records: There arent many classes of objects left in our solar system that we havent looked at up close with a spacecraft.And one of them thats left is the metal asteroids.16 Psyche is an asteroid that orbits the sun out between Mars and Jupiter.The factor that Psyche is distinct is that it is metal rich.Its thought that it may be a remnant core of an early planetesimal that was formed in the really, very earliest parts of the formation of the solar system.And after this planet began forming and this metal core formed inside of that, it clashed with other bodies that then removed off the rocky mantle, leaving this core in place.This is the part of worlds that we cant sample directly today.Its too hot. Cant drill a hole that deep in the Earth or other planets.So how do we study the core of our planet?Psyche offers us the opportunity to check out a core, the only method that mankind can ever do. Well go into four concentrically smaller orbits to gather the needed measurements that we require from our 3 main instruments.So our payload consists of a couple of imagers, which are electronic cameras that take images of Psyche.Also a gamma ray neutron spectrometer which enables us to measure the essential structure of the surface area of Psyche.And then a magnetometer which will permit us to identify any magnetic field thats left at Psyche.If Psyche still has some sort of remnant magnetic field that most likely tells us it truly was a core.
