Mars Flyby and New Mission Plan Promise Exciting Discoveries in Deep Space
Get ready for an interplanetary adventure as NASA’s Psyche mission prepares for an October 2023 launch to explore a unique metal-rich asteroid.
NASA’s Psyche mission, targeting a metal-rich asteroid sharing its name, is gearing up for an October 2023 launch after a one-year postponement to finalize critical testing. The launch window spans from October 5 to October 25. Located in the outer main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, Psyche could be the remnants of a planetesimal core, a crucial component of rocky planets.
Updated launch date
The updated launch date necessitates a revised mission plan, featuring a Mars flyby for gravity assistance and an asteroid rendezvous in August 2029. The 26-month science phase will follow, during which the spacecraft will orbit Psyche at varying altitudes while gathering observations and data. The restructured flight plan allows for greater adaptability in employing the spacecraft’s electric propulsion thrusters, ensuring efficient asteroid navigation, orbital transitions, and sustained orbiting.
Psyche, a distinct celestial body, rotates on its side, unlike most solar system objects. This rotation required mission planners to devise spacecraft observation orbits around the asteroid accordingly. Additionally, the spacecraft will reach Psyche at a different point in its orbit around the Sun compared to the initial mission plan. Originally, the spacecraft was set to sequentially orbit Psyche at four altitudes, starting at the highest (Orbit A) and descending to the lowest (Orbit D). The updated plan entails Psyche entering Orbit A first, then transitioning to Orbit B1, Orbit D, Orbit C, and finally to Orbit B2.
Innovative orbital configuration
This innovative orbital configuration ensures the spacecraft’s imagers receive optimal lighting during Orbits B1 and B2. The remaining orbits have been designed to best facilitate observations by Psyche’s Gamma Ray Neutron Spectrometer, magnetometer, and telecommunications system, utilized for the gravity science experiment.
Presently, engineers and technicians are finalizing the verification and validation of the fully integrated spacecraft’s system-level elements. Concurrently, tests are being conducted on the spacecraft and in the mission’s three system test beds. In the upcoming months, engineers will perform a series of “day in the life” tests, simulating a five-to-seven-day period of spacecraft operation, including both routine and challenging scenarios.
The spacecraft is set to begin its final assembly, test, and launch operations
At present, the spacecraft resides in a clean room at the Astrotech Space Operations Facility, situated near NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The final assembly, testing, and launch preparations are scheduled to commence in June. Engineers and technicians from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California will return to Astrotech to work on the project up until its launch. The spacecraft’s assembly is complete, barring the installation of solar arrays and imagers, which might be reinstalled before June. A conclusive series of tests will be carried out on the spacecraft before it is fueled and connected to the launch vehicle just ahead of launch. Psyche is set to soar on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket from Kennedy’s Launch Complex 39A.
NASA’s Deep Space Optical Communications technology demonstration remains integrated into the spacecraft, aimed at testing high-data-rate laser communications. This cutting-edge technology holds the potential to revolutionize our understanding of deep space and pave the way for future exploration.NASA’s Deep Space Optical Communications technology demonstration remains integrated into the spacecraft, aimed at testing high-data-rate laser communications. This cutting-edge technology holds the potential to revolutionize our understanding of deep space and pave the way for future exploration.
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