{"id":768815,"date":"2023-10-11T11:59:23","date_gmt":"2023-10-11T15:59:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/?p=768815"},"modified":"2023-10-11T11:59:23","modified_gmt":"2023-10-11T15:59:23","slug":"journey-to-a-metal-rich-world-nasas-psyche-is-ready-to-launch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/?p=768815","title":{"rendered":"Journey to a Metal-Rich World: NASA\u2019s Psyche Is Ready to Launch"},"content":{"rendered":"
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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\u2019s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. NASA\u2019s Psyche spacecraft will travel to a metal-rich asteroid by the same name orbiting the Sun between Mars and Jupiter to study its composition. The spacecraft also carries the agency\u2019s Deep Space Optical Communications technology demonstration, which will test laser communications beyond the Moon.<\/div>\n
NASA\/Aubrey Gemignani<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

The spacecraft is targeting an Oct. 12 liftoff atop a Falcon Heavy rocket. Its destination, a metal-rich asteroid, may tell us more about how planets form.<\/em><\/p>\n

In less than 24 hours, NASA\u2019s Psyche<\/a> spacecraft is slated to launch from the agency\u2019s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. With its sights set on a mysterious asteroid of the same name, Psyche is NASA\u2019s first scientific mission to be launched on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy<\/a> rocket.<\/p>\n

Launch is set for 10:16 a.m. EDT on Thursday, Oct. 12, with additional opportunities identified each day through Oct. 25. Each opportunity is instantaneous, meaning there is only one exact time per day when launch can occur.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe team has worked tirelessly to prepare the spacecraft for its journey to a one-of-a-kind asteroid,\u201d said Henry Stone, Psyche\u2019s project manager at NASA\u2019s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. \u201cAll spacecraft systems, science instruments, and software have been integrated and extensively tested, and the spacecraft is fully configured for flight. We look forward to the launch and \u2013 more importantly \u2013 to accomplishing the mission\u2019s objectives, marking yet another historic voyage of scientific discovery.\u201d<\/p>\n

The orbiter\u2019s solar arrays are folded and stowed for launch. All systems have been tested and re-tested many times, along with the payload of three science instruments. Loaded with 2,392 pounds (1,085 kilograms) of the neutral gas xenon \u2013 the propellant that will get Psyche to the asteroid belt \u2013 the spacecraft sits inside the launch vehicle\u2019s cone-shaped payload fairing, which protects it from aerodynamic pressure and heat during launch. The spacecraft and fairing have been mated to the SpaceX Falcon Heavy, which is poised for takeoff from Kennedy Space Center\u2019s historic Launch Complex 39A.<\/p>\n

Integrated onto the spacecraft is a technology demonstration called Deep Space Optical Communications (DSOC<\/a>). DSOC will test high-data-rate laser communications<\/a> \u2013 which could be used by future NASA missions \u2013 beyond the Moon for the first time. The tech demo will not relay Psyche mission data.<\/p>\n

Launch Sequences<\/strong><\/h3>\n

The rocket has two stages and two side boosters. After the side boosters separate and return to land, the core stage will be expended into the Atlantic Ocean. Then the second stage of the rocket, which will help Psyche escape Earth\u2019s gravity, will fire its engine.<\/p>\n

Once the rocket is out of Earth\u2019s atmosphere, about four minutes after launch, the fairing will separate from its ride and split into two halves, which are jettisoned back to Earth. The spacecraft will then separate from the upper stage about an hour after launch. Soon after, it will deploy its twin solar arrays, one at a time, and direct them at the Sun. At this point, the spacecraft is in a planned \u201csafe mode\u201d (a precautionary standby status), with the Sun illuminating the deployed solar panels, and will begin to direct the low-gain antenna toward Earth for communications.<\/p>\n

It could take up to two hours after separation from the rocket before the first signal is received.<\/p>\n

Once stable communications have been established, mission controllers will begin to reconfigure the spacecraft into its planned operating mode. The ensuing three months of initial checkout include a commissioning phase to confirm that all hardware and software is operating as expected, including the electric thrusters. Starting about five months after launch, the thrusters will fire, one at a time, during long stretches of the trajectory to get to the asteroid.<\/p>\n

Psyche\u2019s efficient solar electric propulsion<\/a> system works by accelerating and expelling charged atoms, or ions, of the neutral gas xenon \u2013 creating a thrust that will gently push the spacecraft on a journey of nearly six years and about 2.2 billion miles (3.6 billion kilometers) to the asteroid Psyche in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.<\/p>\n

Along the way, in May 2026, the spacecraft will fly by Mars and use the Red Planet\u2019s gravity to slingshot itself toward Psyche, saving propellant while gaining speed and changing direction.<\/p>\n

After the spacecraft reaches the asteroid in 2029, it will spend about 26 months in orbit, gathering images and other data.<\/p>\n

Scientists believe Psyche could be part of the core of a planetesimal \u2013 an early planetary building block \u2013 and composed of a mixture of rock and iron-nickel metal. The metal will not be mined; it will be studied to give researchers a better idea of what makes up Earth\u2019s core and how rocky planets formed in our solar system. Humans can\u2019t bore a path to our planet\u2019s core \u2013 or the cores of the other rocky planets \u2013 so visiting Psyche could provide a one-of-a-kind window into the violent history of collisions and accumulation of matter that created planets like our own.<\/p>\n

More About the Mission<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Arizona State University leads the Psyche mission. A division of Caltech in Pasadena, JPL is responsible for the mission\u2019s overall management, system engineering, integration and test, and mission operations. Maxar Technologies in Palo Alto, California, provided the high-power solar electric propulsion spacecraft chassis.<\/p>\n

JPL manages DSOC for the Technology Demonstration Missions program within NASA\u2019s Space Technology Mission Directorate and the Space Communications and Navigation program within the Space Operations Mission Directorate.<\/p>\n

NASA\u2019s Launch Services Program, based at Kennedy Space Center, is responsible for the insight and approval of the launch vehicle and manages the launch service for the Psyche mission. LSP certified the SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket for use with the agency\u2019s most complex and highest priority missions in early 2023 at the conclusion of a 2 \u00bd-year effort.<\/p>\n

Psyche is the 14th mission selected as part of NASA\u2019s Discovery Program<\/a>, managed by the agency\u2019s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama.<\/p>\n

For more information about NASA\u2019s Psyche mission go to: http:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/psyche<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

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\n\t\tGet the Psyche press kit<\/span><\/p>\n

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\n\t\tTeachable Moment: NASA\u2019s Psyche Asteroid Mission<\/span><\/p>\n

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\n\t\tPsyche classroom activities<\/span><\/p>\n

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News Media Contacts<\/strong><\/p>\n

Gretchen McCartney
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
818-287-4115
gretchen.p.mccartney@jpl.nasa.gov<\/a><\/p>\n

Alise Fisher \/ Alana Johnson
NASA Headquarters, Washington
202-358-2546 \/ 202-358-1501
alise.m.fisher@nasa.gov<\/a> \/ alana.r.johnson@nasa.gov<\/a><\/p>\n

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