Countdown to Psyche, Humanity’s First Mission to a Metal World

The countdown is on! In two weeks, Psyche will launch from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida – this is a groundbreaking mission to explore a unique, metal-rich asteroid orbiting the Sun between Mars and Jupiter. Psyche will also carry a “passenger,” the Deep Space Optical Communications (DSOC) experiment, to test a sophisticated new laser communications technology system in deep space.

Here at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), the excitement ahead of the anticipated launch on October 5 is palpable – and building. We just held a briefing about the mission and its fabulous team; Psyche banners have been hung around every corner of the Lab; and employees are showing their pride by sporting brand new Psyche mission pins.

Launching into New Frontiers

What’s particularly exciting about is Psyche is it being a mission of many firsts: 

• Psyche is humanity’s first ever mission to a metal asteroid that could reveal clues about planetary cores and how rocky planets in our solar system formed and evolved.

• DSOC will be NASA’s first demonstration of high-bandwidth optical communications beyond the Earth-Moon system, which has the potential to revolutionize future science and human space flight missions. 

• The mission will use Hall-effect thrusters for the first time in deep space, a super-efficient propulsion system that will be powered by Psyche’s signature twin solar arrays.

• Psyche is the first dedicated NASA launch on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy, and the first interplanetary mission for the rocket.

Psyche will also be my first planetary science mission launch since joining JPL as Director over a year ago, following the launch of our Earth science mission Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) in December 2022. In many ways, Psyche defined my first year in this position and reinforced what I have always known about JPL – that we can dare and achieve mighty things that have never been done before when we do them together.

Going Further Together

We’ve brought together the best minds to ensure that this mission is successful. While Psyche will soon embark on a six-year, 2.2-billion-mile journey to the asteroid it’s named for, we’ve been on a journey of our own to arrive at this moment – and it hasn’t always been easy. That makes me even more proud of the incredible team at JPL and our many mission partners at Arizona State University, Maxar Technologies, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, DTU - Technical University of Denmark, The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, KSC launch services and countless others.  

On Track for Liftoff

We’re on track, ready, and continue to be vigilant heading into the last days before liftoff.

The Psyche and DSOC teams have been hyper-focused on close-out activities in recent weeks. Having now finished fueling and final testing, the team at KSC is preparing to load the spacecraft onto the Falcon Heavy. Soon, Psyche will be encapsulated into a protective payload fairing that will connect to the rocket. At this point, the team won’t see the spacecraft again. It will separate from its fairing after pushing through Earth’s atmosphere – and it’ll be on its way to explore a metal world.

I can’t wait to celebrate the outstanding accomplishments of the extended Psyche and DSOC teams at the launch.

Go Psyche, go DSOC!