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Power On: Psyche Spacecraft

Feb. 2, 2021
Technicians power on the main body of NASA's Psyche spacecraft, called the Solar Electric Propulsion (SEP) Chassis, at Maxar Technologies in Palo Alto, California, in November 2020.

In this photo, taken in November 2020, technicians power on the main body of NASA's Psyche spacecraft — called the Solar Electric Propulsion (SEP) Chassis — for the first time, in a clean room at Maxar Technologies in Palo Alto, California.

Maxar will deliver the SEP Chassis to NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California in spring of 2021.

Set to launch in August 2022, Psyche will investigate the composition of a metal-rich asteroid of the same name that lies in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. The spacecraft will arrive in early 2026 and orbit the asteroid for nearly two years.

Arizona State University in Tempe leads the mission. JPL is responsible for the mission's overall management, system engineering, integration and test, and mission operations. For more information about NASA's Psyche mission go to: http://www.nasa.gov/psyche or https://psyche.asu.edu/

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