Psyche Press Kit
By Jet Propulsion Laboratory
NASA’s Psyche mission is the first to a metal-rich asteroid, which is also named Psyche. The agency is targeting a launch period that opens Oct. 5, 2023. The mission will ride to space on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
Cruising through space with a super-efficient solar electric propulsion system, the Psyche spacecraft is expected to arrive at the asteroid to begin science operations in 2029. It will orbit this unique world for at least 26 months.
Attached to Psyche is the Deep Space Optical Communications technology demonstration, a NASA experiment that will test optical, or laser, communications beyond the Moon.