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NASA’s Psyche Mission to Fly by Mars for Gravity Assist

May 8, 2026

Against a vast black background, a small white crescent shape occupies the center of the image. The crescent is thickest at top and open on the bottom.

This image of Mars was captured by NASA’s Psyche mission on May 3, 2026, about 3 million miles from the planet as the spacecraft approaches for a gravity assist on May 15. Sunlight is reflected and scattered by dust in the Martian atmosphere, creating an extended crescent around the planet.

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU

The spacecraft is using the Red Planet’s gravity to increase speed and tilt its trajectory on the journey to the metal-rich asteroid Psyche.

NASA’s Psyche spacecraft will get a boost from Mars on Friday, May 15, passing just 2,800 miles (4,500 kilometers) from the planet’s surface at some 12,333 mph (19,848 kph). The spacecraft will harness the planet’s gravitational pull to speed up and adjust its trajectory toward the metal-rich asteroid Psyche, one of the more unusual objects in our solar system.

Launched on Oct. 13, 2023, the Psyche spacecraft relies on a solar-electric propulsion system and the inert gas xenon for propellant, gradually gaining speed over the course of its long journey. Psyche’s mission planners are using the Mars flyby to save propellent, letting the planet’s gravity do some of the work instead of the propulsion system alone. But gravity assists like these also offer opportunities for missions to practice and to calibrate their science instruments.

Read more about the encounter on the Psyche blog.

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