News Archive / Tagged: Discovery Program

• Pedal to the metal: NASA’s Psyche launches to metallic asteroid

  Derek RichardsonOctober 13th, 2023

  After an initial boost from SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket, NASA’s Psyche mission has begun a six-year journey to metal-rich asteroid "16 Psyche," a body that may be the exposed core of a protoplanet.

• NASA selects 2 missions to study Venus

  Theresa CrossJune 3rd, 2021

  As part of NASA’s emerging area of research, two new missions have been selected to study Venus as part of NASA’s Discovery Program.

• Psyche mission to reach metallic asteroid 4 years earlier than planned

  Bart LeahyMay 24th, 2017

  NASA announced on May 24, 2017, that it would be launching the Discovery-class Psyche mission one year earlier, which will enable it to reach the nickel-iron asteroid Psyche four years earlier than previously planned. Thanks to spacecraft and trajectory redesigns, Psyche is now scheduled to launch in 2022 and will reach its destination in 2026.

• Lockheed Martin tapped to build NASA’s Lucy spacecraft

  Jason RhianJanuary 9th, 2017

  NASA has recently announced that the U.S. space agency is planning on sending two new Discovery Program missions to investigate leftovers of the formation of the early Solar System. One of these two spacecraft, Lucy, will be built by Lockheed Martin.