2025 Robert M. Walker Distinguished Lectures Colloquium: The NASA Psyche Mission: Preparing for the Science of an Unknown Object

The asteroid (16) Psyche may be the metal-rich remnant of a differentiated planetesimal, or it may be 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.

Lindy Elkins-Tanton is a planetary scientist, and the Principal Investigator of the NASA Psyche mission. She is Director of the University of California, Berkeley Space Sciences Laboratory. Previously, she was an Arizona State University VP and Regents Professor in the School of Earth and Space Exploration, Director of the Department of Terrestrial Magnetism at the Carnegie Institution for Science, and faculty at MIT. Elkins-Tanton's research concerns the formation and evolution of rocky planets; volcanic activity and extinctions on Earth; as well as on effective teams and future-facing educational practices. Asteroid (8252) Elkins-Tanton is named for her, as is the mineral elkinstantonite. She is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, and the American Academy of Arts & Sciences. Elkins-Tanton received her B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. from MIT.

Header image: Launch of the Psyche spacecraft from Kennedy Space Center, October 13, 2023. Credit: NASA/JPL/ASU