In the recent papers of JGR: Planets (Journal of Geophysical Research):
Cambioni, S. Weiss, B. P. Baijal, N. et al. Formation of Asteroid (16) Psyche by a Giant Impact 2025JE009317
One thing’s not up for debate: (16) Psyche is metal-rich. More debatable, less certain: was it the core of a (near) planet, or just coincidentally accreted from metal-rich impactors, or something else entirely? Cambioni et al. consider the top contender, possibly: that Psyche was the core of a newborn planet (or planetesimal, more like (4) Vesta)), which was then struck by a large and severe blow. That blow, if performed with certain conditions, could knock the core free from the mantle and crust. Did it?
Psyche (the spacecraft) will reach Psyche in 2029. Hopefully we will get data that will unravel this Solar System hit-and-run. Or will we? MESSENGER did not get to the bottom of Mercury’s formation.