As part of NASA's Discovery Program, the mission to explore a metal-rich
asteroid is well on its way to an August 2022 launch.
With NASA's Psyche mission now less than a year from launch, anticipation is
building. By next spring, the fully assembled spacecraft will ship from the
agency's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California to NASA's Kennedy
Space Center in Florida for a launch period that opens Aug. 1, 2022.
In early 2026, the Psyche spacecraft will arrive at its target, an asteroid
of the same name in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.
Scientists believe asteroid Psyche, which is about 140 miles (226
kilometers) wide, is made largely of iron and nickel and could be the core
of an early planet.
The spacecraft will spend 21 months orbiting the asteroid and gathering
science data with a magnetometer, a multispectral imager, and a gamma ray
and neutron spectrometer. The information the instruments gather won't just
help scientists understand this particular object; it will lend valuable
insight into how Earth and other planets formed.
"It's incredible to be at this point now, with a big spacecraft coming
together and one year until launch," said Arizona State University's Lindy
Elkins-Tanton, who as principal investigator leads the Psyche mission. "Like
everyone in the world, our team has faced many challenges of the COVID
pandemic, and we are putting in maximum effort to make it to the finish
line. I'm so proud of this incredible group of people!"
In March, Maxar Technologies delivered to JPL the spacecraft's Solar
Electric Propulsion Chassis, with most of the engineering hardware needed
for the electrical system, the propulsion systems, the thermal system, and
the guidance and navigation system. Psyche will use Maxar's superefficient
electric propulsion system to travel through deep space. The spacecraft's
delivery coincided with the kickoff of the mission phase known as assembly,
test, and launch operations.
The mission also will test a sophisticated new laser communications
technology, recently completed by JPL, called Deep Space Optical
Communications (DSOC). The technology demonstration will focus on using
lasers to enhance communications speeds and prepare for data-intensive
transmissions, which could potentially include livestream videos for future
missions.
Engineers already have completed the successful integration of the
magnetometer and DSOC with the Psyche spacecraft. The Psyche spectrometer
will be integrated over the next few months, along with the imager.
When the spacecraft is fully assembled, it will move into JPL's huge thermal
vacuum chamber for testing that simulates the environment of deep space. The
entire spacecraft then will be attached to a large shaker table in an
acoustic chamber to simulate the environment of launch.
"We have all been watching the spacecraft come together on the floor of the
clean room. It's tremendously exciting after all the years of hard work
designing the system, and building and testing its myriad of components,"
said JPL's Henry Stone, the Psyche project manager. "The pressure is now on
to complete assembly and test of the vehicle prior to shipment to Cape
Canaveral in less than a year. It's both exhilarating and stressful for all
involved, but I have total confidence in this team's ability to get the job
done in time for our launch. Go, Psyche!"
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