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Buseck Center for Meteorite Studies

Hypervelocity impacts in iron meteorites

Center Collection Curator Dr. Laurence Garvie and PhD Candidate Soumya Ray are co-authors on a new research paper published in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets.

The paper, Hypervelocity impact experiments in iron-nickel ingots and iron meteorites: Implications for the NASA Psyche mission, details the results of a series of high-velocity impact experiments performed on iron meteorites and cast metal ingots with iron and nickel compositions similar to iron meteorites.

These results will be utilized to interpret the nature and history of asteroid Psyche when the ASU-led  NASA Psyche mission reaches its destination.

Read the full paper, here!

Marchi S., Durda D. D., Polanskey C. A., Asphaug E., Bottke W. F., Elkins-Tanton L. T., Garvie, L. A. J., Ray S., Chocron S., and Williams D. A. (2019) Hypervelocity impact experiments in iron-nickel ingots and iron meteorites: Implications for the NASA Psyche mission. Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets. 24 October 2019. https://doi.org/10.1029/2019JE005927

NASA Psyche mission
The spacecraft’s structure will include power and propulsion systems to travel to, and orbit, the asteroid. These systems will combine solar power with electric propulsion to carry the scientific instruments used to study the asteroid through space.
The mission plans launch in 2022 and arrival at Psyche, between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter, in 2026. This selected asteroid is made almost entirely of nickel-iron metal. It offers evidence about violent collisions that created Earth and other terrestrial planets.
Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Arizona State Univ./Space Systems Loral/Peter Rubin.