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Psyche

The Psyche spacecraft launched Oct. 13, 2023, on a mission to a unique metal-rich asteroid with the same name.

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Psyche mission blog

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how do we get there?

Learn about the Spacecraft

Psyche is on its way to begin exploring asteroid Psyche by August 2029. Scientists think the asteroid has a high metal content, and may be the partial core of a planetesimal, a building block of an early planet.

Type

Orbiter

LaunchED

Oct. 13, 2023

Target

Asteroid Psyche

Objective

Visit a metal-rich asteroid called Psyche
NASA’s Psyche spacecraft, atop a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket, soars into the sky after lifting off from Kennedy Space Center’s historic Launch Complex 39A in Florida at 10:19 a.m. EDT on Oct. 13, 2023.

What Will Psyche Do?

Psyche is a NASA mission to study a metal-rich asteroid with the same name, located in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.

Asteroid Psyche’s gravity will capture the spacecraft in late July 2029, and Psyche will begin its prime mission in August. It will spend about two years orbiting the asteroid to take pictures, map the surface, and collect data to determine Psyche’s composition. 

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Technicians connected NASA's Psyche spacecraft to the payload attach fitting inside the clean room at Astrotech Space Operations facility in Titusville, Florida on Wednesday, Sept. 20, 2023. This hardware allows Psyche to connect to the top of the rocket once secured inside the protective payload fairings. Psyche will lift off on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket at 10:34 a.m. EDT Thursday, Oct. 5, 2023, from Launch Complex 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The Psyche spacecraft will travel nearly six years and about 2.2 billion miles (3.6 billion kilometers) to an asteroid of the same name, which is orbiting the Sun between Mars and Jupiter. Scientists believe Psyche could be part of the core of a planetesimal, likely made of iron-nickel metal, which can be studied from orbit to give researchers a better idea of what may make up Earth's core.
Technicians connect NASA's Psyche spacecraft to the payload attach fitting inside the clean room at Astrotech Space Operations facility in Titusville, Florida on Wednesday, Sept. 20, 2023.
Credits: NASA/Kim Shiflett