Overview
- NASA published a stitched time-lapse and image set in mid-July showing Psyche’s approach to and departure from Mars after the spacecraft used the planet’s gravity for a speed and trajectory boost in May.
- The twin multispectral cameras passed calibration checks and captured rare close views of Mars’ craters, polar ice and the moons Phobos and Deimos as practice for similar searches at the asteroid.
- Psyche’s neutron spectrometer registered the expected count-rate increase near closest approach while the gamma-ray channel saw no Martian signal because the flyby remained too distant for detection.
- The magnetometer recorded a magnetic signature consistent with Mars’ bow shock and marked the instrument’s first planetary magnetic measurement since launch.
- With instruments validated and data downlinked, the spacecraft has resumed cruise operations and teams plan to restart sustained solar-electric propulsion later in 2026 en route to the 2029 rendezvous with metal-rich asteroid 16 Psyche.