After Mission Asteroid Bennu, NASA will conduct three Big Asteroid Missions, DART, Lucy and Psyche Mission

 

 Recently, Osiris-Rex(the Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security-Regolith Explorer ) has successfully touched the surface of asteroid Bennu to collect some samples of the asteroid.  This samples will help scientists to perfectly analyzed the puzzle of how our solar system formed.

But it will take a week before scientists know how much samples were grabbed and whether another try will be needed. If the spacecraft successfully collected some samples of asteroid Bennu then it will return with the samples to Earth by 2023.

Similarly, NASA has several asteroid mission for various purposes such as to identify and learn more about potentially dangerous objects to defend our planet.

Scientists believe that asteroids similar to Bennu could have seeded Earth with water and organic compounds, and may be potentially rich in those resources and precious metals that could be valuable to humanity in the future to help power exploration of the solar system by robots and humans. Scientists are also eager to find more potentially hazardous asteroids, to learn more about their orbits and physical characteristics, and to develop potential protective measures to mitigate dangers posed to Earth. 

“Asteroids and small bodies are important keys to understanding the history of the solar system,” said Lori Glaze, director of NASA’s Planetary Science Division. “The technology and engineering required to visit and study them has been improving rapidly, and we’re excited about the transformational science our missions to asteroids are going to provide us in the near future.”

In the next few years, NASA is going to launch various asteroid mission such as The Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) and Lucy missions will launch in July and October 2021, respectively. The Psyche mission follows closely with a 2022 launch date and Janus, is in development.

Mission The Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART)

 

This mission will test planetary defense technologies for preventing an impact of Earth by a hazardous asteroid. DART will be the first demonstration of the kinetic impactor technique to change the motion of an asteroid in space. The target is the Didymos binary asteroid system which consists the larger Didymos and its smaller ‘moonlet’ Dimorphos, with diameters of ~780 and 160 m, respectively. The spacecraft will hit Dimorphos with an almost head-on impact in September 2022 that will change the speed and path of Dimorphos. However, there is no concern that the asteroid will be made an impact with the Earth. An Earth-based telescopes will be used by scientists to determine the change in the orbit of Dimorphos, close-up action is made possible through NASA’s international partnership with the Italian Space Agency and its Light Italian Cubesat for Imaging of Asteroid (LICIACube) which will capture imagery of impact effects on the surface and the anticipated ejecta plume it will produce. The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland leads the mission for NASA.

Mission Lucy

 

The Lucy mission is unlike any other space mission in history, which will investigate eight asteroids orbiting our sun,  Lucy will take a 12-year journey to survey the diversity of one main-belt asteroid and seven Trojan asteroids—asteroids ensnared in Jupiter’s orbit—believed to be remnants of the same material that formed the outer planets. The instrument suite aboard Lucy will characterize surface geology, surface color and composition, interior and bulk properties, in addition to satellites and rings of each asteroid. Lucy is led by principal investigator Hal Levison from the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colorado

Mission Psyche

 

Psyche asteroid is on orbit between Mars and Jupiter. It is the unique metal asteroid Psyche 16. Scientists believe this asteroid may be like the unreachable metallic cores of terrestrial planets. In contrast to other rocky or icy bodies, scientists believe Psyche is comprised mainly of metallic iron and nickel - similar to Earth's core - and possibly the “heart” of an early planet that lost its outer layers. The mission’s instruments will not only characterize topography but will help scientists determine if Psyche 16 is truly a proto-planet’s core or if it is unmolten material. They will also be able to conclude relative ages of regions of the asteroid’s surface and determine if small metal bodies contain similar light elements expected in the high-pressure cores of terrestrial planets. Psyche is led by principal investigator Lindy Elkins-Tanton from Arizona State University.  

(https://www.nasa.gov)

 

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