JPL-Managed Mission to Explore Asteroid Cleared for Final Preparations Before Launch

An artist’s conception of NASA’s Psyche spacecraft, managed by Jet Propulsion Laboratory and scheduled to launch in August 2022, is pictured in an illustration provided by NASA and JPL.

A planned NASA mission to send a probe to explore the asteroid Psyche has received approval to enter into the final phase of spacecraft development before launch, according to Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which is managing the endeavor.

The Psyche probe will visit an asteroid bearing the same name that sits in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, JPL said in a written statement.

“After an intense review of the mission’s progress in building its science instruments and engineering systems, Psyche won clearance to progress into what NASA calls Phase D of its life cycle — the final phase of operations prior to its scheduled launch in August 2022,” the statement said.

Project Manager Henry Stone of JPL said he was pleased with the progress, especially considering the background of the ongoing pandemic.

“The project has made tremendous progress, particularly given the world around us and COVID-19 and dealing with the constraints that impose,” he said. “We’re in very good shape. We’re on track and have a plan to go forward to make launch.”

With the recent approval, mission planners can send the probe’s solar-electric propulsion system, science instruments, and other components to JPL to be assembled into a flight-ready craft, according to the institution.

Psyche Principal Investigator Lindy Elkins-Tanton of the University of Arizona said during Phase D, “all of the puzzle pieces are coming together and we’re getting on the rocket.”

“This is the most intense part of everything that happens on the ground,” she said.

The asteroid selected for study is metal rich, likely composed largely of iron and nickel that may be the remnants of an early planet that lost its outer layers, according to the JPL statement. The 140-mile-wide asteroid “could lend valuable insight into how Earth and other planets formed.

Instruments aboard Psyche are to include a magnetometer to check for any possible magnetic field, as well as a multispectral imager to photograph the surface and spectrometers to determine what elements make up the asteroid.

After launching in August of 2022 from Florida, the Psyche spacecraft is expected to swing by Mars for a gravity boost in May of 2023 before reaching orbit around the asteroid in 2026 for a 21-month mission, according to JPL.

More information on the mission is available online at nasa.gov/psyche.