After years of planning and a one-year delay, NASA is set to launch a highly anticipated mission to the metal-rich asteroid Psyche from the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, on Thursday morning.
The launch, scheduled for at 10:16 a.m. ET will be streamed by NASA, and live coverage begins at 9:15 a.m. on Thursday.
NASA scientists theorize that the asteroid could be a partially exposed core composed of nickel-iron, the shattered remnants of an early planet that never got a chance to form.
Once launched, Psyche is expected to take a six-year, 3.5-billion-km journey to the Psyche asteroid, which orbits the sun between Mars and Jupiter.
Located about three times farther from the Sun than Earth, Psyche was named after its discovery in 1852, honouring the Greek goddess of the soul.
Scientists believe the asteroid can help discoveries about Earth’s core and those of other terrestrial planets.
