Astrophile: Heavy metal asteroid is a spacecraft magnet
22:09 20 December 2013 by Lisa Grossman
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Astrophile is our weekly column on curious cosmic objects, from the solar system to the far reaches of the multiverse
Object: asteroid 16 Psyche
Alter ego: naked metal core
If Jules Verne were alive, he'd raise a toast. In a twist on his notion to journey to the centre of the Earth, a proposed spacecraft may get to visit the core of a proto-planet that was long ago stripped of its rocky outsides and cast adrift in the solar system.