Pedal to the Metal: NASA’s Psyche Heads Toward Asteroid Belt
As depicted in this artist’s concept, NASA’s Psyche spacecraft will approach the metal-rich asteroid Psyche in summer 2029 using its solar electric propulsion system, powered by large cross-shaped solar arrays.
With a successful Mars gravity assist in its rearview mirror, NASA’s Psyche spacecraft has fired up its thrusters and is accelerating to the metal-rich asteroid of the same name. During the first leg of its journey, following an October 2023 launch, the mission used its electric propulsion system intermittently to maneuver to the right place for harnessing Mars’ gravity for a propellant-saving speed boost and a slight trajectory change.
On Sept. 28, the spacecraft began to use its propulsion system nearly continuously, pausing just once each week to check in with mission controllers on Earth. This keeps the mission on track for its rendezvous with the asteroid Psyche in the main asteroid belt by the summer of 2029.
“It’s now ‘pedal to the metal’ to the asteroid Psyche,” said Don Han, the Psyche mission’s navigation lead at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, which is managed for the agency by Caltech. “We will be running our propulsion system at every available opportunity, pausing only for necessary engineering activities. The thrusters will be operating nearly 90% of the time from now until we reach the asteroid.”
Xenon propellant efficiency