NASA’s Psyche spacecraft, which continues its journey toward a metal asteroid, captured rare photographs of the red planet while passing by Mars. Launched in October 2023, Psyche is heading toward the asteroid “16 Psyche,” located in the outer part of the main asteroid belt between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter.
“Elchi” reports that observations from Earth and space telescopes show that this space rock has a highly reflective metal surface.
Scientists hypothesize that this large metal asteroid could be the exposed core of an early planetary building block, similar to the innermost layers of planets like Earth, Mars, Mercury, and Venus.
Speed increased by gravity
A flyby of Mars was included in the spacecraft’s flight plan to save fuel, support the solar-electric propulsion system, and adjust its course during the 3.6 billion kilometer journey. On May 15, as “Psyche” orbited the red planet, Mars’ gravity acted like a natural slingshot, increasing the spacecraft’s speed by a thousand miles per hour (approximately 1600 km/h) and shifting its orbital plane by about 1 degree relative to the Sun.
“We have confirmed the acceleration Mars gave to the spacecraft. We are currently on our way to reach the “Psyche” asteroid in the summer of 2029,” said Don Han, a navigation officer at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California.
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