Psyche Mission to Use Mars Gravity Assist to Reach Metal-Rich Asteroid

NASA’s Psyche spacecraft will perform a gravity assist by flying within roughly 2,800–3,000 miles of Mars on May 15 to gain speed and redirect toward the metal‑rich asteroid 16 Psyche. The Mars flyby will also calibrate Psyche’s instruments, including its multispectral imager, as it heads toward its 2029 rendezvous with the asteroid believed to be an exposed nickel‑iron core. A February trajectory correction set up the maneuver, and scientists also anticipate potential Mars dust‑ring observations and a search for small moons to aid future mission planning.