Overview
- NASA’s Psyche spacecraft used a close Mars flyby on May 15, passing about 2,864 miles above the planet to gain roughly 1,000 mph and tilt its path by about 1 degree.
- Mission teams verified the change by reading Doppler shifts in radio signals tracked by NASA’s Deep Space Network, confirming the planned route to the main asteroid belt.
- Psyche captured thousands of images during approach and departure, including a crescent Mars, the south polar cap, and Huygens crater, to calibrate cameras and refine processing tools.
- Early measurements suggest the magnetometers may have sensed Mars’ bow shock during the pass, a preliminary finding that engineers are now reviewing.
- The spacecraft has resumed ion‑thruster cruising toward a planned August 2029 arrival at 16 Psyche, with NASA and ESA Mars missions contributing data to aid instrument calibration.