Author: NASA

This artist's conception shows the Psyche spacecraft against a starry background orbiting above the heavily cratered surface of the Psyche asteroid.

July 20, 2022 / NASA

Board Begins Review of NASA’s Psyche Mission

On July 19, Psyche’s independent review board met for the first time. The focus is on understanding technical issues that led to the delay, how the risk of delay was or was not understood...
This artist's conception shows a close-up of the heavily cratered surface of the Psyche asteroid.

July 14, 2022 / NASA

NASA Begins Psyche Mission Review

NASA’s Science Mission Directorate and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory have commissioned an independent review to examine project and institutional issues that led to the Psyche mission missing...

June 24, 2022 / NASA

NASA Announces Launch Delay for Psyche Asteroid Mission

NASA announced Friday the Psyche asteroid mission, the agency’s first mission designed to study a metal-rich asteroid, will not make its planned 2022 launch attempt. Read the news release

June 24, 2022 / NASA

NASA to Discuss Psyche Asteroid Mission

NASA will host a media teleconference at 2 p.m. EDT Friday to provide an update on the agency’s mission to study the Psyche asteroid. Audio of the briefing will livestream on the agency’s...

June 22, 2022 / NASA

Psyche Mission Update

NASA’s Psyche mission team continues to assess ongoing issues with the spacecraft’s flight software. The team is evaluating its ability to meet a schedule to launch in 2022 – the current...

May 24, 2022 / NASA

NASA’s Psyche Mission Launch Update

NASA’s Psyche spacecraft is nearing the final stages of preparations for launch, and the mission team is working to confirm that all hardware and software systems are operating correctly....
NASA's Psyche spacecraft arrives at Kennedy Space Center's Launch and Landing Facility in Florida.

May 2, 2022 / NASA

NASA’s Psyche Spacecraft Arrives at Kennedy

The Psyche spacecraft completed its journey from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Southern California to NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. First, it traveled to March Air Reserve...

July 7, 2020 / NASA

Building NASA’s Psyche: Design Done, Now Full Speed Ahead on Hardware

The mission to explore a metal-rich asteroid is pivoting from planning the details to building real pieces of the spacecraft puzzle. Psyche, the NASA mission to explore a metal-rock asteroid...
This artist's conception shows the Psyche spacecraft against a starry background orbiting above the heavily cratered surface of the Psyche asteroid.

February 28, 2020 / NASA

NASA Awards Launch Services Contract for the Psyche Mission

NASA has selected SpaceX of Hawthorne, California, to provide launch services for the agency’s Psyche mission.

This image shows Mars rover tracks on sand with the NASA On a Mission logo.

November 12, 2019 / NASA

On a Mission: The Prospects of Heavy Metal

Listen to Season 2, Episode 6 of NASA’s “On a Mission” podcast about “The Prospects of Heavy Metal.” Listen to the podcast

June 11, 2019 / NASA

NASA’s Psyche Mission Has a Metal World in Its Sights

Designed to explore a metal asteroid that could be the heart of a planet, the Psyche mission is readying for a 2022 launch. After extensive review, NASA Headquarters in Washington has approved...
A graphic showing the Deep Space Optical Communication (DSOC) device that will beam high data rates to a telescope at Palomar Mountain, California.

October 18, 2017 / NASA

Deep Space Communications via Faraway Photons

A spacecraft destined to explore a unique asteroid will also test new communication hardware that uses lasers instead of radio waves. The Deep Space Optical Communications (DSOC) package aboard...