JPL
Careers
Education
Science & Technology
JPL Logo
JPL Logo

Psyche

Psyche

The Psyche mission is a journey to a unique metal-rich asteroid orbiting the Sun between Mars and Jupiter.

Visit Mission Website

Mission Statistics

Launch Date

Aug. 1, 2022

Type

Orbiter

Target

Asteroids and Comets

Status

Future

About the mission

The Psyche mission is a journey to a unique metal-rich asteroid orbiting the Sun between Mars and Jupiter. What makes the asteroid Psyche unique is that it appears to be the exposed nickel-iron core of an early planet, one of the building blocks of our solar system.

Deep within rocky, terrestrial planets - including Earth - scientists infer the presence of metallic cores, but these lie unreachably far below the planets' rocky mantles and crusts. Because we cannot see or measure Earth's core directly, Psyche offers a unique window into the violent history of collisions and accretion that created terrestrial planets.

The mission is led by Arizona State University. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory is responsible for mission management, operations and navigation. The spacecraft's solar-electric propulsion chassis will be built by Maxar (formerly SSL) with a payload that includes an imager, magnetometer, and a gamma-ray spectrometer.

Science Goals

  • Understand a previously unexplored building block of planet formation: iron cores. 
  • Look inside terrestrial planets, including Earth, by directly examining the interior of a differentiated body, which otherwise could not be seen.
  • Explore a new type of world. For the first time, examine a world made not of rock and ice, but metal. 

Science Objectives

  • Determine whether Psyche is a core, or if it is unmelted material.
  • Determine the relative ages of regions of Psyche's surface.
  • Determine whether small metal bodies incorporate the same light elements as are expected in the Earth's high-pressure core.
  • Determine whether Psyche was formed under conditions more oxidizing or more reducing than Earth's core.
  • Characterize Psyche's topography.

Scientific Instruments and Investigations

  • Multispectral Imager
  • Gamma Ray and Neutron Spectrometer
  • Magnetometer
  • X-band Gravity Science Investigation

Deep Space Optical Communication (DSOC)

The Psyche mission will test a sophisticated new laser communication technology that encodes data in photons at near-infrared wavelengths (rather than radio waves) to communicate between a probe in deep space and Earth. Using light instead of radio allows the spacecraft to communicate more data in a given amount of time. The DSOC team is based at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

Mission Timeline

  • Launch: 2022
  • Solar electric cruise: 3.5 years
  • Arrival at (16) Psyche: 2026
  • Observation Period: 21 months in orbit, mapping and studying Psyche's properties

Mission Events

  • 2022 - Launch of Psyche spacecraft from Kennedy Space Center, Florida
  • 2023 - Mars Flyby of Psyche spacecraft
  • 2026 - Psyche spacecraft arrives in asteroid's orbit
  • 2026-2027 - Psyche spacecraft orbits the Psyche asteroid

More about Asteroids and Comets

News .

NASA to Discuss Psyche Asteroid Mission

News .

NASA Announces Launch Delay for Its Psyche Asteroid Mission

News .

Planetary Defense Exercise Uses Apophis as Hazardous Asteroid Stand-In

News .

NASA’s Psyche Starts Processing at Kennedy

News .

NASA Shows Off Psyche Spacecraft to Media

News .

US Space Force Releases Decades of Bolide Data to NASA for Planetary Defense Studies

News .

Shake and Bake: NASA’s Psyche Is Tested in Spacelike Conditions

News .

NASA System Predicts Impact of Small Asteroid

News .

NASA’s Psyche Gets Huge Solar Arrays for Trip to Metal-Rich Asteroid

News .

NASA Solar Sail Mission to Chase Tiny Asteroid After Artemis I Launch

ASU Psyche official website
Psyche Facebook
Psyche on Twitter (@MissionToPsyche)
Psyche Mission video
Psyche Team Blog

Explore Other Missions

Hayabusa

Stardust-NExT

NEOWISE

Deep Impact

Stardust

Microwave Instrument for the Rosetta Orbiter

Deep Space 1

Near Earth Asteroid Scout

Asteroid Redirect Robotic Mission

Deep Impact - EPOXI

About JPL
Who We Are
Executive Council
Directors
Careers
Internships
The JPL Story
JPL Achievements
Documentary Series
Annual Reports
Missions
Current
Past
Future
All
News
All
Earth
Solar System
Stars and Galaxies
Subscribe to JPL News
Galleries
Images
Videos
Audio
Podcasts
Apps
Visions of the Future
Slice of History
Robotics at JPL
Events
Lecture Series
Team Competitions
Speakers Bureau
Calendar
Visit
Public Tours
Virtual Tour
Topics
JPL Life
Solar System
Mars
Earth
Climate Change
Exoplanets
Stars and Galaxies
Robotics
More
Asteroid Watch
NASA's Eyes Visualizations
Universe - Internal Newsletter
Social Media
Get the Latest from JPL
Follow Us

JPL is a federally funded research and development center managed for NASA by Caltech.

More from JPL
Careers Education Science & Technology Acquisitions JPL Store
Careers
Education
Science & Technology
Acquisitions
JPL Store
Related NASA Sites
Basics of Spaceflight
Climate Kids
Earth / Global Climate Change
Exoplanet Exploration
Mars Exploration
Solar System Exploration
Space Place
NASA's Eyes Visualization Project
Voyager Interstellar Mission
NASA
Caltech
Privacy
Image Policy
FAQ
Feedback
Site Managers: Veronica McGregor, Randal Jackson
Site Editors: Tony Greicius, Naomi Hartono