Tag: ASU

NASA Selects ‘ShadowCam’ to Fly on Korea Pathfinder Lunar Orbiter

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THe Korea Pathfinder Lunar Orbiter images Shackleton crater using ShadowCam. (Credit: NASA)

WASHINGTON (NASA PR) — NASA has selected an instrument developed by investigators at Arizona State University and Malin Space Science Systems as a U.S. contribution to the Korea Aerospace Research Institute’s (KARI) first lunar exploration mission, Korea Pathfinder Lunar Orbiter (KPLO). ShadowCam will address Strategic Knowledge Gaps, or lack of information required to reduce risk, increase effectiveness, and improve the designs of future human and robotic missions. ShadowCam joins four KARI-developed instruments on KPLO.

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SSL to Provide Spacecraft for NASA Asteroid Mission

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The Psyche mission spacecraft will include a multispectral imager, which will be led by an ASU science team and will provide high-resolution images using filters to differentiate between the asteroid’s metallic and silicate components. (Credit: SSL)
The Psyche mission spacecraft will include a multispectral imager, which will be led by an ASU science team and will provide high-resolution images using filters to differentiate between the asteroid’s metallic and silicate components. (Credit: SSL)

Palo Alto, Calif. (SSL PR) — Space Systems Loral (SSL), a leading provider of innovative satellites and spacecraft systems, today announced that it will provide a spacecraft platform for a NASA Discovery Mission to explore the metallic asteroid 16 Psyche. SSL will work for NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) to support Principal Investigator Dr. Lindy Elkins-Tanton, director of Arizona State University’s (ASU) School of Earth and Space Exploration, in a mission to research the 210 km diameter asteroid, which is believed to be the only place in the solar system where a metal planetary core can be studied. As the industrial partner, SSL will provide the “power-propulsion chassis,” a highly capable composite structure spacecraft platform equipped with a high-power solar electric propulsion (SEP) system.

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ASU to Lead NASA Space Exploration Mission for 1st Time

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Artist rendition of the asteroid Psyche. (Credit: Peter Rubin/ASU
Artist rendition of the asteroid Psyche. (Credit: Peter Rubin/ASU

Metal asteroid Psyche to offer unique look into violent collisions that created Earth, terrestrial planets

by Karin Valentine
Media Relations & Marketing manager,
ASU School of Earth and Space Exploration

Arizona State University’s Psyche Mission, a journey to a metal asteroid, has been selected for flight, marking the first time the school will lead a NASA space exploration mission and the first time scientists will be able to see what is believed to be a planetary core.

The mission’s spacecraft is expected to launch in 2023, arriving at the asteroid in 2030, where it will spend 20 months in orbit, mapping it and studying its properties.

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NASA Selects Two New Deep Space CubeSat Missions

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CubeSat
CubeSat

WASHINGTON (NASA PR) — Good things really do come in small packages.

When we think of space satellites that assist with communications, weather monitoring and GPS here on Earth, we likely picture them as being quite large—many are as big as a school bus and weigh several tons. Yet there’s a class of smaller satellites that’s growing in popularity. These miniaturized satellites, known as nanosatellites or CubeSats, can fit in the palm of your hand and are providing new opportunities for space science.

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