Psyche mission flyby of Mars tomorrow
The Psyche spacecraft, launched in 2023, is headed toward a rare metal asteroid named Psyche. It will arrive in 2029, but in order to get there, it first has to make a close flyby of Mars to adjust its direction and pick up a boost of speed. On Friday, May 15, 2026, Psyche will make that flyby, coming within 2,800 miles (4,500 kilometers) of the red planet’s surface. That’s closer than Earth’s geostationary satellites. The spacecraft will be traveling at 12,333 mph (19,848 kph).
Psyche already sent back an image of Mars on May 3 (see above). Soon that crescent shape will loom large in Psyche’s view. In the image above, Psyche was still about 3 million miles (4.8 million km) away. Because of the angle of Psyche’s approach, Mars will appear as a crescent until the spacecraft passes the red planet. Then it will see a fully lit Mars. Scientists plan to put together a timelapse of Psyche’s images of the Mars flyby in the coming weeks. So stay tuned!
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Does Mars have a ring?
Astronomers think Mars might have a faint, dusty ring. The ring would be the result of micrometeorites striking Mars’ two moons, Phobos and Deimos, and ejecting dust into orbit around Mars. So there’s a chance Psyche could see this dusty ring around Mars. The sun-Mars-Psyche alignment might allow the sun striking the particles to scatter light, and image processing could pick up the ring.
Why fly by Mars?
While most flybys are planned to give a spacecraft a boost of speed, this flyby is also important to slightly change the spacecraft’s trajectory. The orbit of asteroid Psyche is skewed by about 3 degrees from the plane of the solar system. So in order to get to the asteroid Psyche, the Psyche mission must adjust its trajectory by a little bit.
More about the Psyche mission and asteroid
Some scientists think the asteroid Psyche is a failed planet. Perhaps, as the nascent planet formed, something struck it and stripped off the outer layers, leaving behind the metallic core. If so, then some estimates put the massive, metal-rich object’s worth at $10,000 quadrillion. That’s more than the entire economy of Earth.
However, a 2021 study from the University of Arizona said asteroid Psyche might not be as metallic or dense as scientists once thought. Instead, these scientists said:
Rather than being an intact exposed core of an early planet, it might actually be closer to a rubble pile.
Who’s right? That’s what the Psyche mission hopes to discover when it arrives at the asteroid in 2029.
Bottom line: The Psyche mission will fly by Mars on May 15, 2026. It’s getting a boost and course trajectory adjustment as it speeds toward the asteroid Psyche. More pics and a timelapse of the flyby to come!
Via NASA
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