Psyche: Journey to a Metal World

by Engineering

Educational/Awareness Academic Events STEM - Science, Technology, Engi...

Fri, Feb 23, 2024

12 PM – 1 PM EST (GMT-5)

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DS 075

4501 N Charles Street, Baltimore, MD 21210, United States

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Psyche: Journey to a Metal World is a NASA Discovery-class exploration mission that will explore the largest metal asteroid in the solar system. Deep within the terrestrial planets, including Earth, scientists infer the presence of metallic cores, but these lie unreachably far below the planets’ rocky mantles and crusts. The asteroid Psyche offers a unique window into these building blocks of planet formation and the opportunity to investigate a previously unexplored type of world. This mission will be the first to explore up close a world made not or rock or ice, but of metal. The Psyche spacecraft will be the first to use Hall effect thrusters beyond the Earth-moon system, a milestone in the use of advanced electric propulsion systems for space exploration, and the first to demonstrate laser communications from interplanetary space, a milestone in deep space optical communication. This talk will describe how the Psyche mission was developed, evolving from a scientific hypothesis into a mission architecture and viable mission concept.

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David Oh's profile photo

David Oh

Dr.

NASA JPL


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David Oh is a Principal Systems Engineer at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) who has worked on missions to the Moon, Mars, Asteroid Belt, and beyond. David joined JPL in 2003, led the cross-cutting systems engineering team that designed and tested the core software, thermal, and communications systems for the Curiosity Mars Rover, and was the rover’s Lead Flight Director through cruise, and early surface operations. Prior to coming to JPL, David spent seven years working on communications satellites at Space Systems/Loral. David received Bachelor’s degrees in Astronautics and in Music from MIT in 1991, and received an Sc.D. in Aeronautics and Astronautics from MIT in 1997. Today, David is a Chief Engineer for “Psyche: Journey to a Metal World,” a mission in NASA’s Discovery mission portfolio.

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