News Archive / Tagged: Psyche

• Psyche asteroid mission will miss its 2022 launch window

  Cullen DesforgesJune 25th, 2022

  Citing testing delays, NASA has made the decision to postpone the highly anticipated Psyche mission to the metal-rich asteroid of the same name.

• Design phase begins for Psyche mission to metal asteroid

  Laurel KornfeldJune 13th, 2019

  NASA's Psyche mission to a unique metal asteroid has attained the important milestone of being approved to begin spacecraft design and construction.

• NASA Glenn tests solar electric propulsion thruster for journey to metal world

  Michael ColeOctober 9th, 2017

  NASA is preparing to travel to a world unlike any other it has visited before. The agency has sent spacecraft to terrestrial planets, gaseous planets, icy moons, and rocky asteroids. Now, following its approval as a Discovery mission in February of this year, a spacecraft set for launch in 2022 will visit the main-belt asteroid Psyche, a metal world that scientists think is made almost entirely of nickel and iron.

• 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.

• New NASA mission could solve mystery of asteroid Psyche’s water

  Tomasz NowakowskiJanuary 10th, 2017

  Although Psyche is thought to be made of metal, scientists have recently found the presence of water on this minor planet. The new findings could be confirmed and further studied by a newly announced NASA mission – also named Psyche.

• NASA selects Lucy and Psyche for next Discovery missions

  Paul KnightlyJanuary 4th, 2017

  NASA announced in a news release its next Discovery-class missions will be Lucy and Psyche. The missions will study an array of unexplored asteroids, with Lucy embarking on a tour of Jupiter's Trojan asteroids and Psyche setting course for the metallic asteroid 16 Psyche.