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Sep 27, 2023

Psyche Spacecraft en Route to the Asteroid Belt (Artist's Concept)

This artist's concept depicts NASA's Psyche spacecraft with its large solar arrays fully deployed and one of its four Hall-effect thrusters firing (visible via its blue glow) atop the spacecraft's

This artist's concept depicts NASA's Psyche spacecraft with its large solar arrays fully deployed and one of its four Hall-effect thrusters firing (visible via its blue glow) atop the spacecraft's body.

Slated for an October 2023 launch, Psyche is scheduled to reach its destination – a mysterious asteroid of the same name, in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter – in July 2029. Measuring about 173 miles (279 kilometers) at its widest point, the asteroid presents a unique opportunity to explore a metal-rich body that may be part of a core of a planetesimal, the building block of an early planet. The spacecraft will spend at least 26 months orbiting the asteroid, gathering images and other data that will tell scientists more about its history and what it is made of.

Arizona State University leads the Psyche mission. A division of Caltech in Pasadena, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory is responsible for the mission's overall management, system engineering, integration and test, and mission operations. Maxar Technologies in Palo Alto, California, provided the high-power solar electric propulsion spacecraft chassis.

Psyche is the 14th mission selected as part of NASA's Discovery Program, managed by the agency's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. NASA's Launch Services Program, based at the Kennedy Space Center, is managing the launch service.

For more information about NASA's Psyche mission, go to:http://www.nasa.gov/psyche or https://psyche.asu.edu/

Psyche Undergoes Vibration Testing

Psyche Mission Team at JPL

NASA's Psyche: Solar Arrays Stowed for Launch

Preparing for Psyche's Array Test Deployment

Psyche Ramping up to Launch

Home Stretch to Launch for Psyche

NASA's Psyche: Picking up Launch Prep for 2023

NASA Shows Off Psyche Spacecraft to Media

Media Meet the Team Leading NASA's Psyche Mission

Tall Order: NASA's Psyche in TVAC Testing

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New Video Series Reveals What Drives NASA’s Psyche Mission Team

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Huge Solar Arrays Permanently Installed on NASA’s Psyche Spacecraft

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NASA’s Psyche Mission Enters Home Stretch Before Launch

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Review Board: NASA-JPL Psyche Progress Outstanding, Launch on Track

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Webb Looks for Fomalhaut’s Asteroid Belt and Finds Much More

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Psyche

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Near-Earth Object Surveyor

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Near Earth Asteroid Scout

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NASA’s Planetary Radar Captures Detailed View of Oblong Asteroid

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Webb Detects Extremely Small Main Belt Asteroid