Overview
- The Psyche spacecraft completed a close Mars gravity‑assist on May 15 that carried it about 2,864 miles (4,609 km) above the planet and redirected its trajectory toward asteroid 16 Psyche.
- NASA navigation lead Don Han said the encounter increased Psyche’s speed by roughly 1,000 miles per hour and tilted its orbital plane by about one degree, with radio Doppler tracking from the Deep Space Network confirming the planned path.
- Engineers powered all science instruments during the flyby and captured thousands of images, including rare crescent views, detailed shots of the southern highlands and Huygens crater, which teams are now calibrating for use at the asteroid.
- The flyby also served as an operational rehearsal: magnetometer and particle detectors gathered early data that may have seen Mars’ bow shock, gamma‑ray and neutron sensors collected comparative readings, and the spacecraft has resumed ion‑propelled cruising.
- Psyche launched in October 2023 and will travel about 2.2 billion miles using solar‑electric propulsion to reach the metal‑rich asteroid in summer 2029, where scientists will spend roughly two years mapping the body to test whether it is an exposed planetary core.