NASA shares beautiful timelapse of the Psyche spacecraft’s view over Mars
NASA has released a striking timelapse video showing the Psyche spacecraft's close flyby of Mars, which the probe used in May to gain a gravity-assisted speed boost on its long journey to the asteroid belt. The manoeuvre adjusted Psyche's trajectory and conserved propellant, keeping it on course to reach its ultimate target, the metal-rich asteroid Psyche, in 2029. The images also served a practical purpose, allowing engineers to test the spacecraft's imaging instrument ahead of its main mission.
The spacecraft began approaching Mars on 2 May and made its closest pass on 15 May, using its multispectral imager to capture thousands of photographs that were later stitched into a single timelapse showing the crescent planet, detailed surface features and its icy south pole. Jim Bell of Arizona State University, the mission's imager instrument lead, said the flyby also let the team calibrate the camera's sensitivity, successfully spotting the distant Martian moons Phobos and Deimos as practice for the moonlet search planned once Psyche reaches the asteroid.
- NASA shares timelapse of Psyche spacecraft's May flyby of Mars
- Flyby gave a gravity-assisted speed boost towards the asteroid Psyche
- Imager was also tested by spotting Mars's moons Phobos and Deimos
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Nasa's Psyche mission is a robotic spacecraft launched in 2023 to study a strange, metal-rich asteroid also named Psyche, which orbits in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. Scientists are interested in it because it may be made largely of iron and nickel, possibly the exposed core of a small early planet, offering clues about how rocky planets form. The spacecraft is not due to arrive until 2029, so it has spent the intervening years on a long, carefully plotted route through the solar system.
To reach its target, Psyche needed a boost in speed, which it got in May by flying close past Mars and using the planet's gravity to alter its path, a common technique in space missions that saves fuel. While passing Mars, the probe's onboard camera, designed to study the asteroid's surface, was tested by photographing the planet itself, giving engineers a chance to check the equipment works properly ahead of the mission's main phase.
Jim Bell of Arizona State University leads the imaging instrument team and has been overseeing these camera tests. The Mars flyby matters because it is both a practical staging post, keeping Psyche on course and on schedule, and a rehearsal for the detailed observations engineers hope to make once the spacecraft finally reaches the asteroid in 2029.