Psyche Spacecraft Prepares for Mars Flyby
NASA’s Psyche spacecraft will pass about 2,800 miles (4,500 kilometers) from the Martian surface at 12,328 mph (19,840 kph) on May 15, 2026. The Red Planet will provide a crucial gravity assist, enabling the spacecraft to reach its namesake destination in the main asteroid belt.
Known as a gravitational slingshot, the propellant-saving maneuver harnesses Mars’ gravity to boost the spacecraft’s speed and adjust its trajectory toward the metal-rich asteroid Psyche for a 2029 arrival.
The mission team will use the encounter to calibrate the spacecraft’s instruments. By capturing thousands of observations of Mars with the multispectral imager, engineers can hone the precise imaging and navigation techniques required to orbit Psyche and study what scientists believe is the exposed nickel-iron core of an ancient planet. This flyby represents a critical intersection of orbital mechanics and deep-space instrument testing on the mission’s journey to a metal world.
For more information, go to: https://science.nasa.gov/mission/psyche/
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU
Produced by True Story Films
Transcript
On May 15, 2026, NASA's Psyche spacecraft will have a close encounter with Mars, coming within 3,000 miles of the Red Planet's surface. Like a slingshot, it will use Martian gravity to send it on its way to Psyche, a mysterious metal-rich asteroid that orbits the Sun between Mars and Jupiter.
The Psyche mission launched from NASA's Kennedy Space Center on October 13, 2023. After a flawless launch and deployment, Psyche has been cruising through deep space on its way to study the asteroid Psyche — the largest metal-rich asteroid in our solar system. Scientists think the Psyche asteroid could be an exposed core of a planetary building block, which may unlock secrets to the origin of planets like Earth and our solar system.
Equipped with instruments to image, detect, measure, and map Psyche's geology, composition, topography, as well as its gravitational and magnetic fields, Psyche now approaches Mars for a mission-critical gravity assist flyby.
"We'll get a gravity assist from Mars and that will slingshot us, increasing our speed, but more importantly, changing the plane of our orbit. The Earth plane around the sun and the Psyche asteroid plane is about 3 degrees different. So to get to the Psyche asteroid we have to actually be in line with that plane."
"We can't do it without the gravity assist."
During the flyby, all of Psyche's instruments will be fully operational, but its imagers will be particularly active.
"Mars is a beautiful planet. We will be approaching with high phase, which means that Mars will be a crescent as we approach. We'll be taking timelapse images to create a short video of the planet as we arrive and depart. I think like everyone else I'm very excited for the pictures that will come out of this flyby."
Stay tuned for images and post-flyby analysis. Go Psyche!