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♪♪

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We've never detected
a magnetic field around

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an asteroid, but we've
measured magnetization

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in meteorite samples.

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I can remember so clearly
the day that we talked about

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the concept that actually
led to the mission. I had

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just finished teaching a
course and I came out of

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the classroom and Ben was
standing there. His office

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is right there, and he said, 
“Lindy, we just made a

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measurement from this
meteorite that shows that

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it has a magnetic field
that it recorded from

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back at the time
of its formation.

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We don't understand how
this could happen. Can we

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talk about it for a minute?
Maybe you have some ideas.

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I was like, “I totally have
an idea. It's based on what

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I was just teaching.” And
we sat down in his office

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and we drew things on the
whiteboard and suddenly we

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had this idea about how
planetesimals could form.

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We wrote a paper about this
idea. That paper was read

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by Daniel Lankerd and
Bruce Bills at JPL, who

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actually ended up
contacting us and proposing

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to build a
mission around it.

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Psyche represents one of
the best opportunities we'll

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have to search for the
first evidence of asteroid

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magnetism. It's now long
frozen, billions of years

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ago, but that ancient
magnetic field that it

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could have generated could
be imprinted in the surface

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layers of Psyche which
cooled in the presence of

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this field. And so, they
would have what we call

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magnetization, which is
like a fossil or an echo of

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the ancient magnetic
field that it generated.

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And the way you sense
magnetic fields is you use

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an instrument called a
magnetometer and that's

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what we have on Psyche.

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♪

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The Psyche team contacted
us because they know we

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have very high-quality
magnetometer based on

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the magnetic materials
that, that we are producing.

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So, we have a huge
experience in how to do

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this and how to drive
space magnetometers on

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very long timescales.
Here, we're talking many,

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many years.

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We build the hardware.

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We qualify hardware here
on ground. We calibrate the

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hardware and then we
deliver it to Psyche, and

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MIT is responsible for the
science operations and

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data processing of the
magnetometer from Psyche.

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The magnetometer is on
the whole time. It turns on

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after launch. It's on for
the whole mission. And so,

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we'll have a lot of time
to observe the signals

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from the spacecraft and to
calibrate for those. So, by

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the time we actually get to
Psyche we'll be able to get

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a good, clean
measurement of the

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asteroid's magnetic field.

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So, my role was to
model the interaction of

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the asteroid with the solar
wind and then kind of fly a

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simulated Psyche to
fly through the simulated

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asteroid. This is a 3-D
print of Psyche. So, if

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this asteroid is magnetized
you can imagine a magnetic

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field around it, kind of
like the earth magnetic

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field, like a big bubble
but like smaller, and then

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you're going to have the
solar wind flying around it,

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a bunch of electrons and
protons coming in from the

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sun interacting with this
magnetic field and changing

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it constantly. And then,
we're kind of flying in a

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small computer-generated
spacecraft that is going to

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measure this magnetic
field while everything is

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changing and analyze it and
say, “Are we going to be

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able to tell if there's a
magnetic field coming in

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from this body, or are we
just seeing all this space

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magnetic field around it?”

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The real precise mapping
that we expect to do when

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we are closest in on
the asteroid, when we are

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really orbiting close in
the final science orbit.

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But, it's possible that
Psyche is so magnetic that

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we could even detect its
field before we go into

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orbit. That's conceivable.

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This is my first
opportunity to actually be

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involved with that
process of designing the

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investigation and figuring
out how to clean up that

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data so it will be usable
by the science community

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at large.

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An important part of
building a space mission

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is to imagine the whole
range of possibilities and

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to build for all of them.

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A big part of the spirit of
the team is to talk across

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disciplines. I get a chance
to share my science with

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this very broad
group of people.

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Everybody on this mission
is dedicated in a way you

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rarely ever see anywhere
else and that actually

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makes a huge difference
when you are trying to

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achieve a
goal this difficult.

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Never did I ever imagine
that I would actually be

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involved in a project to
actually send a spacecraft

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up to an asteroid. Being
able to basically be part

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what feels like
live science fiction is

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something that for me that
I really enjoy about this.

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If we can do things like
send this robotic orbiter

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out to this asteroid so
far away to learn things

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that we cannot learn in
person, then surely, we can

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solve these problems that
are in front of us here on