In 2022, NASA will send an unmanned spacecraft to Psyche to study it up close and better determine its composition. The study includes the first ultraviolet observations of Psyche, furthering our understanding of its surface and its possible composition. "We looked at the way that the ultraviolet light reflected off of the asteroid surface," Tracy Becker told CNN. The study also detected two possible signals of changes to the surface of Psyche due to solar winds, according to Becker. The oxygen could be coming from the sun or it could be already present in the materials that are on the asteroid, according to Becker.

Source: CNN October 31, 2020 07:07 UTC