The mission, named Psyche, will attempt to determine whether the metal asteroid is the exposed core of a former planet the size of Mars – something that could reveal how our planet was formed, works now and may one day die.

The robotic spacecraft will launch in October 2023, and will arrive at the metal asteroid, known as 16 Psyche, in 2030.

"This is an opportunity to explore a new type of world – not one of rock or ice, but of metal," said Psyche Principal Investigator Lindy Elkins-Tanton of Arizona State University in Tempe.

"16 Psyche is the only known object of its kind in the solar system, and this is the only way humans will ever visit a core. We learn about inner space by visiting outer space."

A second mission, named Lucy, will explore Jupiter`s Trojan asteroids, which are thought to be relics from the early days of our solar system and may have formed far beyond Jupiter.

The Lucy mission will launch in October 2021, flinging around the Earth for a gravitational sling-shot to give it a 2025 arrival at Jupiter`s asteroid belt.

The mission will give scientists the opportunity to study remnants from the outer reaches of the solar system, in an attempt to better understand our universe.

"Lucy will observe primitive remnants from farther out in the solar system, while Psyche will directly observe the interior of a planetary body," said NASA’s Planetary Science Director Jim Green.

"These additional pieces of the puzzle will help us understand how the sun and its family of planets formed, changed over time, and became places where life could develop and be sustained – and what the future may hold."

This information will complement current missions that are studying asteroids right now.

That includes the NEAR orbiter at Ceres in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, as well as OSIRIS-REx at the Bennu asteroid which has the potential to impact with Earth in the future.

/Mirror/

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