Unidentified Feeling Objects

NASA Psyche Mission

As NASA’s Psyche spacecraft journeys to a metal-rich asteroid, 16-Psyche, the mission becomes more than an exploration of space. It reflects the ways we seek to understand ourselves. Just as Psyche uncovers the exposed core of a long-dead planet, this exhibit explores how identity is shaped by what we do not yet understand, both within us and in the universe. Drawing from Jungian archetypes, it considers the parallels between space exploration and human nature, asking whether our desire to map the cosmos mirrors a deeper search for meaning. By imagining asteroids as emotional or psychological archetypes—ways of thinking, feeling, and navigating uncertainty—it presents the Psyche mission as a metaphor for the mind’s journey toward self-discovery.