Psyche (spacecraft)
[10] Psyche was submitted by Lindy Elkins-Tanton, a principal investigator at Arizona State University, as part of a call for proposals for NASA's Discovery Program that closed in February 2015.[1] An independent review of the delays at JPL reported in November 2022 found understaffing, insufficient planning, and communications issues among engineers and with management.[19] An update in May 2024 reported the spacecraft was in good health and on track to complete its mission on the planned timeline along with commencing fire of its xenon thrusters.[20] 16 Psyche is the heaviest known M-type asteroid with a mean diameter of 220 kilometres (140 mi), and may be an exposed iron core of a protoplanet,[21] the remnant of a violent collision with another object that stripped off its mantle and crust.[25] The Psyche spacecraft is designed with solar electric propulsion,[26][27] and the scientific payload includes a multispectral imager, a magnetometer, and a gamma-ray spectrometer.The spacecraft was built by NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in collaboration with SSL (formerly Space Systems/Loral) and Arizona State University.The instrument is mounted on a 6-foot (1.8 m) boom to distance the sensors from background radiation created by energetic particles interacting with the spacecraft and to provide an unobstructed field of view.[42] The SPT-140 (SPT stands for Stationary Plasma Thruster) is a production line commercial propulsion system[3] that was invented in the USSR by OKB Fakel and developed by NASA's Glenn Research Center, Space Systems/Loral, and Pratt & Whitney since the late 1980s.[41][3] Using solar electric thrusters will allow the spacecraft to arrive at 16 Psyche (located 3.3 astronomical units from Earth) much faster, while consuming less than 10% of the propellant it would need using conventional chemical propulsion.The DSOC technology demonstration will begin shortly after launch and continue as the spacecraft travels from Earth to its gravity-assist flyby of Mars.[53][54] The Discovery program solicitation offered mission projects an extra $30 M if they would host and test the 25 kilograms (55 lb) DSOC unit, which needs about 75 Watts.On the night of December 4, the project demonstrated downlink bit rates of 62.5 Mbit/s, 100 Mbit/s, and 267 Mbit/s, which is comparable to broadband internet download speeds.The flight hardware is fitted with a sunshade and protrudes from the side of the spacecraft, making it one of Psyche's easily identifiable features.[7] Psyche will conduct a gravity assist maneuver at Mars in 2026, which will position the spacecraft for arrival at the target asteroid in August 2029.The spacecraft will then use its electric propulsion system to position itself to be captured by the asteroid's gravity, which is expected to occur in late July 2029.After that it will ascend to Orbit C at 190 km (120 mi) altitude for 100 days to perform gravity investigations and continue magnetic field observations.The TVAC testing was conducted inside the 85- by 25-foot vacuum chamber at JPL's facility in Southern California, which replicates the lack of air in space.The sound of the launch can be so violent that it can damage the hardware, so intense acoustic testing was performed to ensure mission success.
1. Hall-effect thrusters
2. Optical telecommunications system
3. Star trackers
4. Low-gain antenna
5. Sun sensor
6. X-band High-gain antenna
7. Neutron spectrometer
8. Gamma-ray spectrometer
9. Cold gas thrusters
10. -Y Panel
11. Magnetometer
12. Top deck
13. +Y Panel
14. Multispectral imagers (x2)
16 PsycheCOSPAR IDSATCAT no.Maxar TechnologiesFalcon HeavyKennedy Space CenterLC-39ASpaceXDiscovery ProgramVERITASplanetary coresJet Propulsion LaboratoryHall-effect thrusterslaser optical communicationsM-type asteroidiron coreprotoplanetmantleSelection of Discovery Mission 13 and 14Lindy Elkins-Tantongravity assistasteroidxenon thrusterssolar electric propulsionmultispectral imagermagnetometergamma-ray spectrometerArizona State Universityshared with a separate missionAthena2 PallasSolar SystemsmallsatEscaPADEDifferentiationterrestrial planetsmagnetic fieldmass distributionplanetary formationplanetesimalmagnetic dynamosilicategeologictopographicGamma-rayNeutronApplied Physics Laboratory at Johns Hopkins University.Massachusetts Institute of TechnologyTechnical University of DenmarkDeep Space Optical Communicationsphotonsradio wavesSpace Systems/Loral1300 bus platformcommand and data handlingSPT-140Hall-effect thrusterSpecific impulseion propulsionStationary Plasma ThrusterOKB FakelGlenn Research CenterPratt & WhitneyPlasmadynamics and Electric Propulsion Laboratoryastronomical unitssolar panelslaser communicationPalomar ObservatoryHale Telescopetechnology readiness levelcat videoterabitslaunch windowsLaunch Pad 39ACape CanaveralEuropa ClipperJPL Table Mountain Facilitythermal vacuum chamberpublic domainBibcodeWayback MachinePlanetary Missions Program OfficeNEAR ShoemakerMars PathfinderLunar ProspectorStardustGenesisCONTOURMESSENGERDeep ImpactKeplerInSightDAVINCIMoon Mineralogy MapperComet HopperTitan Mare ExplorerMission 13 and 14NEOCamIo Volcano ObserverTridentEnceladus Life FinderIcebreaker LifeISOCHRONMANTISMars Geyser HopperMoon DiverPhobos SurveyorWhippleNew Frontiers programNew HorizonsOSIRIS-RExDragonflyMoonRiseCAESARCONDORCORSAIROceanusSPRITEVISAGEJUICE instrumentsSpacecraft missionsminor planetscometsList of minor planets and comets visited by spacecraftList of artificial objects on extraterrestrial surfacesOSIRIS-APEX