The Psyche spacecraft, sent into space by NASA in 2023, passed close to Mars during its billion-kilometer journey and recorded rare images of the red planet. The ultimate goal of the mission is to reach the metallic asteroid “16 Psyche”, located in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.
Scientists say that this asteroid contains high amounts of metal; He thinks it may be the remnant of an ancient planetary core that emerged during the formation of rocky planets such as Earth, Mars, Mercury and Venus. If this theory is confirmed, humanity will have the opportunity to directly examine a planetary core for the first time.
In order to save fuel and increase the speed of the spacecraft during the approximately 3.6 billion kilometer journey, Psyche’s route was specifically planned to include a Mars close pass. During the flyby on May 15, the spacecraft used Mars’ gravitational influence to gain an additional speed of approximately 1,600 kilometers per hour.
Navigation expert Don Han, who works at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California, stated that the maneuver was completed successfully and announced that Psyche is on the route to reach its target asteroid in the summer of 2029.
