by Kevin D. Conod | For Jersey’s Best
Mon., May. 25, 2026
This view of a crescent Mars was captured on May 15, 2026 by NASA’s Psyche mission as it approached the planet for a gravity assist. Courtesy of NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU
NASA’s Psyche spacecraft was launched in 2023 on a mission to an asteroid. It recently swung by Mars — not to explore the red planet but to steal a little speed from it. The spacecraft successfully completed its close approach, coming within 2,864 miles of the planet’s surface on May 15.
This is called a gravity assist — it is a very useful technique that allows engineers to change the speed and direction of a spacecraft without using any additional fuel. This gravity assist increased the spacecraft’s speed by about 1,000 miles per hour.
Although Mars is not its main target, the flyby also provided engineers with an opportunity to test and calibrate the cameras and other instruments onboard. The probe is now headed out into the asteroid belt beyond the orbit of Mars.
NASA’s Psyche spacecraft is shown in a clean room on June 26, 2023, at the Astrotech Space Operations facility near Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Courtesy of NASA/Frank Michaux
Its target is the asteroid Psyche. It is a metal-rich object of great interest to astronomers. It is thought to be the nickel-iron core of an early planet or a planetesimal (a planetary building block). Scientists hope to use Psyche as a window on the early history of our solar system.
We do have to be patient for a close look at Psyche, though. The probe will not reach orbit around the asteroid until August 2029. To follow the spacecraft’s progress into the asteroid belt, visit NASA’s Psyche website.
Kevin D. Conod is the Planetarium Astronomer at the County College of Morris and a member of the North Jersey Astronomical Group.