Space exploration is about to get a whole lot more metal. This week, on Planetary Radio.

I'm Sarah Alachmed of the Planetary Society, with more of the human adventure across our

solar system and beyond. NASA's upcoming psyche mission to explore a metallic asteroid

will launch later this year.

Andy Elkins-Tanton, the principal investigator for psyche, joins us to talk about the spacecraft

and all of the strange wonders that await when we reach the mission's target.

Then we'll turn to Bruce Betts and What's Up for peak at the upcoming night sky and a look at

this week in space history.

Exciting news. Scientists have found possible evidence of active volcanism on Venus.

The discovery was made using data from NASA's Magellan spacecraft,

which orbited Venus from 1990 to 1994. Two grainy radar images taken eight months apart

show a volcanic vent morphing from a circular depression into a larger kidney shape,

indicating possible volcanic activity. There are alternative explanations,

but this finding provides an important data point for scientists trying to understand why

Venus transformed from a potentially habitable planet to a total hellscape.

Our new article on the subject written by our senior editor Jason Davis is available at planetary.org.

A newly discovered asteroid has a small chance of hitting Earth in 2046, but don't panic.

The asteroid named 2023 DW was discovered on February 2nd.

It's the only asteroid that currently ranks higher than a zero on NASA's Turino impact hazard

scale. That's the scale that categorizes the projected risk of any object colliding with our planet.

2023 DW's ranking of a one on this scale means that its chance of colliding with our planet

is extremely unlikely, and there's no cause for public attention or concern.

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