Psyche Asteroid
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For the first time ever, we are
exploring a world made not of rock or ice, but of metal.

Journey to a
Metal World

Deep within the terrestrial planets, including Earth, scientists infer the presence of metallic cores, but these lie unreachably far below the planets’ rocky mantles and crusts. The asteroid Psyche offers a unique window into these building blocks of planet formation and the opportunity to investigate a previously unexplored type of world.

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About Psyche Mission

A SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket with the Psyche spacecraft onboard is launched from Launch Complex 39A, Friday, Oct. 13, 2023, at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Credit: NASA/Aubrey Gemignani
NASA’s Psyche spacecraft, atop a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket, lifts off from Kennedy Space Center’s historic Launch Complex 39A in Florida at 10:19 a.m. EDT on Friday, Oct. 13, 2023. The Psyche mission will study a metal-rich asteroid with the same name, located in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. This is NASA’s first mission to study an asteroid that has more metal than rock or ice. Riding with Psyche is a pioneering technology demonstration – NASA’s Deep Space Optical Communications (DSOC) experiment – which will be the first test of laser communications beyond the Moon. Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett
A SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket with the Psyche spacecraft onboard is seen at Launch Complex 39A as preparations continue for the Psyche mission, Wednesday, Oct. 11, 2023, at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Photo credit: NASA/Aubrey Gemignani
Teams transport NASA's encapsulated Psyche spacecraft from the Astrotech Space Operations Facility in Titusville to Launch Pad 39A at Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Friday, Oct. 6, 2023. Psyche will launch atop a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket. Liftoff is targeted for 10:16 a.m. EDT Thursday, Oct. 12. Riding with Psyche is a pioneering technology demonstration, NASA's Deep Space Optical Communications (DSOC) experiment. Photo credit: NASA/Ben Smegelsky
NASA's Psyche spacecraft is seen in early 2022 on its way to the vacuum chamber at the agency's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Technicians begin to retract one of the two solar arrays attached to NASA's Psyche spacecraft. This photo was taken on July 25, 2023, inside the Astrotech Space Operations facility near the agency's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett
Engineers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California prepare to integrate four Hall thrusters (beneath red protective covers) into the agency’s Psyche spacecraft in July 2021. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
After Maxar Technologies successfully installed Psyche’s High Gain Antenna, their team moved the Psyche Solar Electric Propulsion (SEP) Chassis to the alignment stand at their factory in Palo Alto, CA. Credit: Maxar
This illustration, updated as of March 2021, depicts NASA’s Psyche spacecraft. The image was created by Peter Rubin. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU
This illustration, created in March 2021, depicts the 140-mile-wide (226-kilometer-wide) asteroid Psyche, which lies in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. The image was created by Peter Rubin. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU

Where Are We Now?

A space mission typically has six phases, A-F. The Psyche mission is currently in “Phase E.” This phase of the mission encompasses cruise (including a Mars gravity assist), arrival at the asteroid, and orbiting the asteroid. Check the current location of the spacecraft.

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Experience the Timeline

Get Involved with Psyche

There are many ways to get involved with NASA and space exploration! NASA’s Psyche mission is developing opportunities for engaging university students and the community in the science, engineering, innovation, and communication of the mission.

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Get Involved

News &
Blogs

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All News

These days, Lindy Elkins-Tanton is living out a Talking Heads song lyric: She’s keeping her feet on the ground and her head in the sky. Elkins-Tanton, principal investigator of the Arizona...
Image showing the night sky with a hot pink and purple aurora.

Most people don’t think about weather in space (or that space may even have weather!), but the effects of space weather were hard to miss in early May 2024. The Sun is currently in an agitated...

NASA’s Psyche spacecraft passed its six-month checkup with a clean bill of health, and there’s no holding back now. Navigators are firing its futuristic-looking electric thrusters, which...

NASA’s Deep Space Optical Communications experiment also interfaced with the Psyche spacecraft’s communication system for the first time, transmitting engineering data to Earth. Riding aboard...

Capable of receiving both radio frequency and optical signals, the DSN’s hybrid antenna has tracked and decoded the downlink laser from DSOC, aboard NASA’s Psyche mission. An experimental...

By: Kate Stark, Brooke Owen, and Marc Rassel Kate Stark Since I can remember, space has always fascinated me — so captivating that it sparks my imagination and fills me with awe. My love for...