Magnetization of Asteroid Psyche

Despite Earth's core playing a vital role in the evolution of our planet, it is out of our reach and therefore incapable of being studied directly. Iron meteorites in our inventory may be the closest proxies to our core, but even better would be to observe such a metal mass in situ. Asteroid (16) Psyche may be the remnant core of an ancient planetesimal from the early stages of our Solar System and therefore would provide a unique opportunity to learn about the initial stages of core formation on planets. NASA has sent a mission, named Psyche, that will arrive at the body in 2029 with the primary goal of determining if the metal asteroid is truly a proto-core. One of the primary instruments on this spacecraft is a magnetometer that will look for magnetic records on teh body, reasonsing that if it was a core, Psyche may have generated a magnetic field that left traces in the rock record. 

But this is not an easy task, and one of the difficulties is that Psyche has been impacted numerous times. These impacts may have erased any pre-existing magnetization, but we still do not understand how impacts on metal bodies affect magnetic signatures. To answer this, I am collaborating with reseachers at SwRI to experimentally create hypervelocity impacts on small metals cubes and then map the magnetic signature of the impacted surface before and after impact. Check back for updates!