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16 Psyche is theorized to be the remnant iron core of an early small protoplanet that might have had it's surface and mantle stripped away through violent asteroid impacts.

Some modeling of possible magnetic fields and solar wind disruptions from 16 Psyche have already been performed in this paper. Here is one of their figures:

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This question is a follow on to this idea: Place a satellite at Sun-Mars L1 to shield Mars from Sun radiation . If we could put the enormous iron asteroid 16 Psyche at Mars L1 and spin it up, could we shield Mars from solar winds?

Connor Garcia
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No. Spinning an asteroid won't generate a magnetic field.

Christopher James Huff
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    What if it's magnetized? – Connor Garcia Dec 03 '20 at 17:20
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    The composition is far from ideal as a permanent magnet. I would be surprised if you couldn't get better results with a much smaller (and vastly lighter) superconducting loop. – Christopher James Huff Dec 03 '20 at 17:37
  • So, the above linked paper: "Solar Wind Plasma Interaction with Asteroid 16 Psyche: Implication for Formation Theories" is incorrect? – Connor Garcia Dec 03 '20 at 17:43
  • @ConnorGarcia Spinning magnetic fields induce a rotating electric field. Electric motors are working so, too. This will be far too small for any visible effect. If it spins around its magnetic axis, there will be no effect at al. – peterh Dec 03 '20 at 18:16
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    @ConnorGarcia I don't see anything in that paper that compares it to possible artificially produced magnetospheres or claims it would be suitable for shielding Mars. In fact, the simulated magnetosphere looks like it's a fraction of the diameter of Mars. – Christopher James Huff Dec 03 '20 at 18:49
  • @ConnorGarcia who said it has no magnetic field? – Christopher James Huff Dec 03 '20 at 18:50
  • @ChristopherJamesHuff So is the answer that spinning it won't change the existing magnetic field, which is far too small to shield Mars? – Connor Garcia Dec 03 '20 at 18:52
  • @ChristopherJamesHuff I now realize that my question is pretty bad, do you have any objection to me deleting it? – Connor Garcia Dec 03 '20 at 19:16
  • @ConnorGarcia I don't think it's a bad question. You are unlikely to get a positive answer, but until someone actually does a back-of-the-envelop calculation, we don't know. – WaterMolecule Dec 03 '20 at 20:35
  • "Spinning an asteroid won't generate a magnetic field." What if it's an electrostatic dipole? Imagine a merged binary asteroid where the composition of each half is different and one side photo-ionizes much more readily than the other side. What if it's an electrostatic quadrupole with one material type at the equator and the other at the poles? The first makes a time-dependent dipole field and the second makes a static dipole field. – uhoh Dec 03 '20 at 23:55
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    @uhoh the quadrupole or just an overall charge would technically produce a magnetic dipole, but I think the charge would have a bigger effect on the solar wind than the magnetic field at any plausible rotation rate. A thundercloud on Earth can have a net charge of 350 C, that charge traveling in a loop at the rotation rate of Psyche would constitute a current of 23 milliamps. – Christopher James Huff Dec 04 '20 at 00:39
  • @ChristopherJamesHuff ya you're right no need for the exotic quadrupole, and yes the interaction with/obstruction of the solar wind is probably the more interesting thing. – uhoh Dec 04 '20 at 00:50
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I believe what you might be thinking of is called a "dynamo"... and yes, IF we could create a dynamo with an intense enough field and IF we could control the orientation of the dynamo relative to the direction of the solar wind - it would FULLY be possible to create a ((love your word:)) magnetosheath for Mars.

So your answers are: No, not with 16 Psyche, but Yes with something else it would be possible.

user38561
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  • In fact, there's a proposal to create an artificial magnet in Mars' L1 point for just this purpose: https://phys.org/news/2017-03-nasa-magnetic-shield-mars-atmosphere.html – Pitto Dec 10 '20 at 05:43