Psyche’s Mars flyby primes its long-awaited asteroid rendezvous
TL;DR Summary
NASA’s Psyche spacecraft used a Mars flyby as a gravity assist to gain speed and adjust its orbit on the way to the metal-rich asteroid Psyche in 2029, while testing its science suite (a dual-camera multispectral imager, gamma-ray/neutron spectrometer, and magnetometer). The Mars encounter yielded rare imagery from a high phase angle, including a crescent view and a southern polar to Valles Marineris panorama, helping calibrate instruments ahead of the asteroid mission. The gravity assist boosted speed by about 1,000 mph and nudged the orbit by roughly 1 degree; Psyche launched in Oct 2023 and will complete a 2.2-billion-mile journey.
- NASA’s Psyche spacecraft returns unfamiliar views of a familiar world Ars Technica
- NASA’s Psyche Mission Aces Mars Flyby, Targets Metal-Rich Asteroid NASA (.gov)
- NASA's Psyche probe takes awesome images of Mars on way to (possibly) precious asteroid Space
- Image: NASA's Psyche mission captures Mars' Huygens Crater Phys.org
- NASA’s Psyche captures gorgeous Mars crescent photo on way to asteroid Scientific American
Reading Insights
Total Reads
1
Unique Readers
14
Time Saved
5 min
vs 6 min read
Condensed
91%
1,150 → 100 words
Want the full story? Read the original article
Read on Ars Technica