Blog Archive

This photograph shows David Oh, Lindy Elkins-Tanton, and Dan Goebel holding small stuffed animals in front of a Psyche banner.

March 5, 2018 / Dan Goebel

What does a Chief Engineer do on NASA’s Psyche Mission… and how did I get this gig?

People have asked me what a Chief Engineer does. Here’s what I think they do (I hope the Psyche management team agrees), and also how I got to be one.

This image shows three students participating in a capstone project to build a mobile app for the Psyche mission.

February 13, 2018 / Kari Sanford

Kari’s Psyche-dellic Experiences

My first exploration of an “all-metal” world was in seventh grade. Little did I know, I’d be contributing in two different ways to a “heavy metal” NASA mission.

This image shows the engineering model of the NSTAR ion thurster on one half and its glowing, blue xenon plasma on the right.

January 19, 2018 / Dan Goebel

How do the Electric Thrusters on the Psyche Spacecraft Work?

We reduce the amount of propellant we need to take with us on the Psyche mission by using Solar Electric Propulsion. Here’s a brief description about how electric thrusters work.

This image shows the Hall thruster, a donut-shaped ring glowing blue on a black background.

January 12, 2018 / Dan Goebel

Psyche is an SEP Mission…. What’s that mean?

I’ve had a lot of people come up to me and say: “I’ve heard about the Psyche mission, but what does SEP mean?”

This photograph shows Lindy Elkins-Tanton, Thomas Zurbuchen, and Don Johanson standing in front of a lighted orb in the gallery of ASU's School of Earth and Space Exploration.

January 3, 2018 / Lindy Elkins-Tanton

Happy Birthday Psyche: Year 1

We were selected for flight January 4, 2017…what have we been doing this year?

This image shows an imagined starry background with a football superimposed, along with Earth, the moon, and a comet. The football has the NASA logo on it.

October 23, 2017 / Lindy Elkins-Tanton

Is it Football or is it Rocket Science?

One August morning this year I got an email saying, “Did you hear President Crow challenged the football team to perform as well as Psyche team?” What?

This is a photograph of members of the Psyche team standing in front of a 3D mid size Psyche model located within the Maxar (formerly SSL) facility.

October 12, 2017 / Tess Calvert

Project Management — Start with the Basics

I’ve been a part of projects where, when things went sideways, we would calm everyone by saying “It’s going to be fine! It’s not rocket science!” This time, IT IS ROCKET SCIENCE!

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

October 4, 2017 / David Oh

Creating Psyche: Innovation as Team Sport

I have been working with Lindy for over four years as system architect for the Psyche mission concept. The idea for the Psyche mission appealed to me from the very beginning.

This image shows the LunaH-Map team standing with a large poster of the LunaH-Map logo.

September 18, 2017 / Craig Hardgrove

Team Building: Big and Small

True to form, the day of selection for LunaH-Map was unlike most planetary missions that have come before.

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

August 28, 2017 / Lindy Elkins-Tanton

What in the world is Phase B?

I think it’s taken me these six months to figure out Phase B, where we are right now, myself. Let me share.

This image shows the Principal Investigator, Lindy Elkins-Tanton, and other members of the team.

August 22, 2017 / Lindy Elkins-Tanton

The day that NASA called

This is the Facebook post that I wrote that day, January 4, 2017: I just looked up and it is now dark out, and 8:00 at night…the day has more than flown, it has evaporated.

August 15, 2017 / Lindy Elkins-Tanton

Waiting

This is the Facebook post that I wrote three days before selection, January 1, 2017…