Psyche
What is Psyche?
Probes & telescopes· Launched 2023-10-13 – arrives 2029 (under way). NASA's mission to (16) Psyche, an asteroid that appears to be mostly iron and nickel — possibly the exposed core of a protoplanet. Launched in 2023, it swings past Mars and arrives in 2029. Watch its gentle ion-drive spiral in the orbit view.
The orbit of Psyche at this moment: https://nowsky.org/solar/orbit?fw=probe%3Apsyche&sp=4 — replayed live, no login.
Mission timeline
Spacecraft specs
| Launch | 2023-10-13 |
|---|---|
| Mars flyby | 2026-05 |
| Arrival | 2029, orbit of (16) Psyche |
| Propulsion | solar-electric Hall thrusters |
Figures are representative approximations. Source: compiled from NASA and IAU public data.
Frequently asked
- When did Psyche launch?
- 2023-10-13.
- What is the next milestone for Psyche?
- 1 Aug 2029 — Psyche arrives at the metal asteroid.
- In one line, what is Psyche?
- Probes & telescopes — NASA's mission to (16) Psyche, an asteroid that appears to be mostly iron and nickel — possibly the exposed core of a protoplanet.
Asteroid number 16 and the name it received in 1852
(16) Psyche was discovered on 17 March 1852 by Annibale de Gasparis at the Naples observatory — one of nine asteroids he found — and named for the mortal Psyche of Greek myth, loved by Eros and made goddess of the soul. The 16 in parentheses is its discovery number, Ceres being number 1. At discovery it was a point of light like any other asteroid.
Its identity as a metal world emerged a century and a half later from radar and spectroscopy: its radar reflectivity is far higher than a rocky asteroid's, and its spectrum carries the reddish slope characteristic of metal. At 226 km it is among the ten largest bodies in the belt, and if it is an exposed core remnant the original parent must have been more than 500 km across. After arrival in 2029 the spacecraft team will name its surface features with terms drawn from the myth and from metalworking.
The mission in depth
The Psyche spacecraft is a NASA Discovery mission launched on 13 October 2023 on a Falcon Heavy toward (16) Psyche in the main asteroid belt. Its target is a potato-shaped body about 220 km across whose radar and spectral signatures point to a surface rich in iron and nickel. If it is the bare core of a protoplanet stripped by ancient collisions, we will be looking at a planetary core without digging through thousands of kilometres of rock.
Instead of chemical rockets the spacecraft uses solar-electric Hall thrusters that expel xenon. The push is about the weight of a sheet of paper, but sustained for years it adds up to a large change in speed. A Mars flyby in May 2026 bends the path, and in 2029 Psyche settles into orbit, stepping down over about two years to map magnetism, gravity and surface composition. It also carried the DSOC laser-communication experiment, which beamed high-rate data home from 300 million km.
Follow the probe in the orbit view and you will see a gentle outward spiral rather than the sharp kinks of a chemical-propulsion trajectory. Compare the Mars flyby in May 2026 with the arrival in 2029. The target asteroid, (16) Psyche, is itself drawn in the orbit view.
Related
Figures are representative approximations. Simulated positions use J2000 mean elements.