NASA has shared a fresh update on its Psyche spacecraft, around 18 months after the mission lifted off.
The journey began in October 2023, when the probe launched from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida.
Psyche is heading for asteroid 16 Psyche, which sits in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.
Interest in the target is high because researchers believe the asteroid may contain valuable metals such as iron, gold, and nickel—one reason NASA is eager to study it up close.
Some reports have even suggested the body could be worth more than the entire world economy. Whether that holds up won’t be clear until the spacecraft reaches its destination in 2029.
NASA has now confirmed the spacecraft successfully completed a close flyby of Mars, passing within 2,864 miles (4,609 kilometers) of the planet’s surface.
Even while moving at about 84,000mph through space, Psyche isn’t expected to arrive at asteroid 16 Psyche until August 2029—a schedule NASA recently reiterated remains on track.
During the Mars encounter, Jim Bell, the Psyche imager instrument lead at Arizona State University, said the team collected extensive imagery, capturing ‘thousands of images of the approach to Mars and of the planet’s surface and atmosphere at close approach.’
“This dataset provides unique and important opportunities for us to calibrate and characterize the performance of the cameras, as well as test the early versions of our image-processing tools being developed for use at the asteroid Psyche,” he continued.
The newly released images mark the probe’s first look at an “almost full Mars.” NASA also shared what it described as the highest-resolution view captured of the water ice-rich south polar cap.
NASA said the cap spans more than 430 miles (700 kilometers).
A separate image showing a Martian crescent was also published, taken as Psyche approached the planet for a gravity-assist maneuver.
More flyby imagery is expected to follow in the coming days.
Don Han, Psyche’s navigation lead at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, said: “Although we were confident in our calculations and flight plan, monitoring the DSN’s Doppler signal in real time during the flyby was still exciting.”
“We’ve confirmed that Mars gave the spacecraft a 1,000 mile‑per‑hour boost and shifted its orbital plane by about 1 degree relative to the Sun. We are now on course for arrival at the asteroid Psyche in summer 2029.”
It’s still a few years away, but the mission’s next phase should bring a closer look at one of the solar system’s most intriguing rocky bodies.