NASA's Psyche spacecraft aces Mars gravity-assist flyby en route to metal-rich asteroid Psyche
NASA's Psyche spacecraft used a Mars flyby to slingshot toward metal asteroid Psyche, passing within 2,864 miles of the planet and gaining a 1,000 mph boost. NASA released the flyby data and video this week. First mission to a largely metal asteroid, arrival expected 2029. Per NA
NASA's Psyche spacecraft used a gravity assist from Mars in May to speed up and adjust its course toward the metal-rich asteroid Psyche, passing within 2,864 miles of the planet's surface and gaining roughly 1,000 miles per hour while its orbital plane shifted by about a degree. During the flyby, the spacecraft tested instruments it will later use to analyze the asteroid's composition and magnetic field. NASA released the flyby data and a time-lapse video of the encounter this week, according to JPL. Psyche is the first mission ever sent to study an asteroid believed to be made largely of metal rather than rock or ice, a composition scientists think resembles the exposed core of an early planetary building block. Studying it directly offers a way to examine material that, on rocky planets like Earth, remains buried thousands of kilometers underground and permanently out of reach. The spacecraft is expected to reach the asteroid in 2029, with its prime science mission beginning that August.