{"id":9937,"date":"2023-08-28T10:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-08-28T10:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/modernsciences.org\/staging\/4414\/?p=9937"},"modified":"2023-08-18T15:04:06","modified_gmt":"2023-08-18T15:04:06","slug":"nasas-psyche-mission-to-a-metal-world-may-reveal-the-mysteries-of-earths-interior","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/modernsciences.org\/staging\/4414\/nasas-psyche-mission-to-a-metal-world-may-reveal-the-mysteries-of-earths-interior\/","title":{"rendered":"NASA\u2019s Psyche mission to a metal world may reveal the mysteries of Earth\u2019s interior"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\n \n
\n An illustration of the asteroid Psyche, orbiting between Mars and Jupiter.\n 24K-Production\/iStock via Getty Images Plus<\/a><\/span>\n <\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>\n\nJim Bell<\/a>, Arizona State University<\/a><\/em><\/span>\n\n

French novelist Jules Verne delighted 19th-century readers with the tantalizing notion that a journey to the center of the Earth<\/a> was actually plausible. <\/p>\n\n

Since then, scientists have long acknowledged that Verne\u2019s literary journey was only science fiction. The extreme temperatures of the Earth\u2019s interior \u2013 around 10,000 degrees Fahrenheit (5,537 Celsius) at the core \u2013 and the accompanying crushing pressure, which is millions of times more than at the surface, prevent people from venturing down very far<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n

Still, there are a few things known about the Earth\u2019s interior<\/a>. For example, geophysicists discovered that the core consists of a solid sphere of iron and nickel that comprises 20% of the Earth\u2019s radius, surrounded by a shell of molten iron and nickel that spans an additional 15% of Earth\u2019s radius.<\/p>\n\n

That, and the rest of our knowledge about our world\u2019s interior, was learned indirectly \u2013 either by studying Earth\u2019s magnetic field<\/a> or the way earthquake waves bounce off different layers<\/a> below the Earth\u2019s surface. <\/p>\n\n

But indirect discovery has its limitations. How can scientists find out more about our planet\u2019s deep interior?<\/p>\n\n

Planetary scientists like me<\/a> think the best way to learn about inner Earth is in outer space. NASA\u2019s robotic mission to a metal world<\/a> is scheduled for liftoff on Oct. 5, 2023. That mission, the spacecraft traveling there, and the world it will explore all have the same name \u2013 Psyche. And for six years now, I\u2019ve been part of NASA\u2019s Psyche team<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n

\n