Successful liftoff of NASA Psyche Mission aboard Falcon Heavy

[gary]

The Psyche Mission spacecraft launched earlier today, 14 Oct 2023.

It is travelling to 16 Psyche, a large M-type asteroid discovered by the Italian astronomer Annibale de Gasparis on 17 March 1852 and named
after the Greek goddess Psyche.

It will travel to the asteroid using solar-electric (low-thrust) propulsion, following a Mars flyby and a gravity assist.

Once in orbit, the spacecraft will map and study Psyche using a multispectral imager, a gamma-ray and neutron spectrometer,
a magnetometer, and a radio instrument (for gravity measurement). The mission’s goal is, among other things,
to determine whether Psyche is indeed the core of a planetesimal.

Background here :-
https://science.nasa.gov/solar-system/asteroids/16-psyche/

Replay of launch today on YouTube. Got to 50:45 for final countdown and launch :-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=npIDMxrzm_o

It's particularly impressive at the 56 minute point with the glowing engine bell and at 59 minutes for the side booster landings.

[gary]

For any young readers who might aspire to a career in designing and
building the systems that are used to land the boosters like that,
it is a discipline of Electrical Engineering known as Systems & Control.

The peak professional body for electrical engineering is the Institute
of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE).

Here is a short video of the IEEE Control Systems Technology Award 2021
being presented to Lars Blackmore and Yoshiaki Kuwata, for developing the
guidance, navigation, and control for the Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy reusable
rockets.

https://ieeetv.ieee.org/channels/control-systems/control-systems-technology-award-ieee-css-awards-2021

Lars, who graduated from Cambridge University in 2003 with a Master of
Engineering (MEng) in Electrical and Information Sciences, is now
responsible for the entry, descent and landing of Starship – SpaceX’s
next-generation, fully reusable rocket with room for up to 100 passengers.
The plan is to send large numbers of humans to the Moon and Mars.

Backgrounder on Lars :-
http://www.eng.cam.ac.uk/news/engineer-s-achievements-development-reusable-rockets-honoured-award

[Startrek]

Gary,
Thanks for posting
A nice presentation
Watched the launch this morning as with all the Falcon Heavy launches.
Falcon 9 and Falcon heavy launches are becoming sort of routine these days ( the number of live views are reducing ) Looking forward to the 2nd Starship launch , once the FAA get over their little problems.
In regard to young aspiring engineers, one mustn’t forget to mention Doc Draper whose engineering feats developing inertial guidance , eventually allowed man to walk on the moon.

Cheers
Martin