This actually is so, so cool. As a #Psyche review board member I learned how electric propulsion is part of what makes this mission compelling from a technical point of view (alongside so, so much great science!). Ion thrust makes a craft behave differently in space than other propulsion systems, so it’s interesting for engineers and mission planners as part of the learning curve/contribution for next gen spaceflight.
IIRC, they said DSOC wouldn't be involved in #Psyche's data comms, but probably no one believed them 😀, I certainly didn't :
"#NASA’s Deep Space Optical Communications experiment also interfaced with the Psyche spacecraft’s communication system for the first time, transmitting engineering data to Earth."
So, it appears we should definitely expect spectacular high resolution images from Psyche, when the spacecraft arrives there, or even long before it does.
Wyłowiłem perłkę i chcę się nią z Wami podzielić. 👇
W każdym miesiącu spędzam kilkadziesiąt godzin na słuchaniu podcastów o psychologii. I właśnie dzisiaj natrafiłem na najlepszy podcast w tym miesiącu. Tytuł idealnie pasuje: Dla wszystkich tych, którzy chcą wspierać nastolatka: https://invidious.baczek.me/watch?v=CwaBSLTVI2w
Ta audycja urzekła mnie prostotą mądrości. Nie ma tu skomplikowanych teorii, wielkich rozkmin. Jest za to prosto i mądrze. Warto posłuchać, jeśli w swoim otoczeniu masz jakiegoś nastolatka!
“Our hybrid antenna has been able to successfully and reliably lock onto and track the #DSOC downlink since shortly after the tech demo launched,” said Amy Smith, #DSN deputy manager at JPL. “It also received #Psyche's radio frequency signal, so we have demonstrated synchronous radio and optical frequency deep space communications for the first time.”
(The article has an image of the actual antenna, which is not the one appearing here)
Psyche – from Greek mythology to Greek mountain tops
ESA will participate in NASA's Deep Space Optical Communication (DSOC) demonstration in 2025.
To select a suitable site for ESA’s ground infrastructure, the team searched for the most suitable optical telescopes in Europe; the 2.3 m Aristarchos telescope, located at an altitude of 2340 m at the Helmos Observatory in Greece, checked all the necessary boxes.
Darm-Hirn-Achse: Wie der Darm unsere Psyche beeinflusst
Um zu kommunizieren, ist der Darm mit dem Gehirn verbunden. Forscher finden immer mehr heraus, wie weitreichend diese Verbindung ist. Nicht nur steht sie im Zusammenhang mit Krankheiten, sie könnte auch die Basis neuer Therapien sein. Von Melina Runde.
#NASA’s Deep Space Optical Communications experiment beamed an ultra-high definition streaming video on Dec. 11 from a record-setting 19 million miles away (31 million kilometers, or about 80 times the Earth-Moon distance).
The video signal took 101 seconds to reach Earth, and was sent at the system’s maximum bit rate of 267Mbps.
Bon bha j'ai besoin de cool et de truc psyché pour aller dormir, après ce bon shoot de musique qui tabasse, proposé par FF Shukke, mais un truc pshyché quand même ... tu suis ou bien !? https://woodenshjips.bandcamp.com/track/staring-at-the-sun
Although still far from its 2029 encounter with the asteroid, the spacecraft opened its eyes (twin cameras) and captured a total of 68 images, all within a star field in the constellation Pisces.
The spacecraft has already set a record by using a laser beam to communicate with Earth in an experiment called Deep Space Optical Communications (#DSOC).
BREAKING:
On November 14, NASA’s Deep Space Optical Communications (DSOC) experiment aboard the Psyche spacecraft beamed a near-infrared laser encoded with test data from nearly 16 million kilometers away (50 light-seconds) – about 40 times farther than the Moon is from Earth – to the Hale Telescope at Caltech’s Palomar Observatory in San Diego County, California. This is the farthest-ever demonstration of optical communications.
"Insofern wäre eigentlich klar, was Geflüchtete bei ihrer Ankunft in einem anderen Land benötigen: eine sichere Umgebung, ausreichend Schlaf und Nahrungsmittel, sinnvolle Perspektiven, eine schnelle Einschätzung der psychischen Bedürfnisse und – sofern nötig – einen Behandlungsplatz in einer psychotherapeutischen Praxis. Das alles klingt machbar, scheitert aber an den Strukturen." #Psyche#Trauma#PTBS#Krieg#Psychologie https://www.spektrum.de/news/traumatherapie-eine-kindheit-im-krieg/2197248
Does it look like image #1 below?
Not really, that is an artist's conception of Psyche from NASA.
Images from the best telescopes on Earth look like image #2 below - low res and few details.
Psyche is ~278 km on its longest axis. Even at the minimum distance from earth of ~2 AU, its angular size is just 0.00005 deg or 0.19 arcsec. Imaged by JWST, it would occupy a 2x2 pixel area on the camera.
What's fascinating about Psyche is that it is metal-rich and has a density much higher than similar sized other objects.
No, it is not entirely made up of iron, nickel or gold. Its density is around 4 g/cm3, which is about half that of iron at 7.8 g/cm3.
It is theorized that much of its rocky surface was knocked out by collisions, but it still has a rocky mantle; some of the metallic core oozed out via volcanoes to its surface, giving it a metallic look.