{"id":596370,"date":"2026-07-21T07:17:24","date_gmt":"2026-07-21T07:17:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/596370\/"},"modified":"2026-07-21T07:17:24","modified_gmt":"2026-07-21T07:17:24","slug":"nasas-psyche-spacecraft-captures-mind-bending-month-long-timelapse-of-mars","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/596370\/","title":{"rendered":"NASA’s Psyche Spacecraft Captures Mind-Bending Month-Long Timelapse of Mars"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"A<\/a>A colorized compilation of timelapse images NASA JPL\u2019s Psyche spacecraft captured from May 2 through May 15.<\/p>\n

Throughout May, NASA\u2019s Psyche spacecraft approached and flew away from Mars, coming within just 2,864 miles (4,609 kilometers) of the Red Planet during its closest approach. A brand-new timelapse video released by the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) features thousands of images that Psyche captured during its mission. <\/p>\n

The short video starts with Mars as a very distant, small crescent in the black abyss of space, quickly growing larger in the frame, eventually filling the screen. <\/p>\n

The video then transitions to close-up shots of the Martian surface, showing the Red Planet\u2019s distinctive color and pockmarked surface in incredible detail. <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

After Psyche finished its closest flyby on May 15, the spacecraft began its trip to its actual mission target, the metallic asteroid 16 Psyche located in the outer part of the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. <\/p>\n

Yes, that\u2019s right, Mars is not Psyche\u2019s primary target. Scientists used Mars and its gravitational field to test out various vital aspects of Psyche\u2019s mission, including how the spacecraft can use gravity to adjust its speed and tilt. <\/p>\n

Mars was a stand-in for the asteroid, enabling scientists to test key scientific instruments before the spacecraft reaches its actual target in 2029. <\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>\u2018This view of a crescent Mars was captured on May 15, 2026, at about 5:03 a.m. PDT by NASA\u2019s Psyche mission as it approached the planet for a gravity assist. Captured by the spacecraft\u2019s multispectral imager instrument, this was the last view of the whole planet before it began to overfill the field of view of the camera,\u2019 the University of California, Berkeley explains. https:\/\/psyche.ssl.berkeley.edu\/gallery\/nasas-psyche-mission-images-the-crescent-of-mars\/<\/p>\n

\u201cNot only did the instruments operate precisely as designed, delivering data that matches what NASA already knows about Mars, they also provided a few new insights about the planet along the way,\u201d NASA explains<\/a>. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe mission\u2019s imager, magnetometer, and gamma-ray and neutron spectrometer teams worked overtime to make full use of this planetary encounter, and all instruments delivered great results,\u201d says Lindy Elkins-Tanton, principal investigator for Psyche at the University of California, Berkeley. \u201cWe didn\u2019t anticipate big discoveries, given how extensively the planet has been studied, but we did complement Mars science with the data we collected through Psyche\u2019s unique perspective.\u201d <\/p>\n

Psyche\u2019s gamma-ray and neutron spectrometer, a very important instrument that will analyze the chemical elements that make up Psyche 16\u2019s surface in a few years, got a \u201creal workout\u201d during the spacecraft\u2019s Mars flyby. <\/p>\n

\"AAn artist\u2019s rendition of Psyche reaching the Psyche 16 asteroid. As of now, the spacecraft is expected to reach the asteroid in the summer of 2029. | NASA\/JPL-Caltech\/Arizona State Univ.\/Space Systems Loral\/Peter Rubin<\/p>\n

\u201cAround the time of Mars closest approach, the neutron spectrometer detected a count-rate enhancement close to what we anticipated. It was very gratifying to see,\u201d says David Lawrence, science lead for Psyche\u2019s spectrometer at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory in Maryland. \u201cAs expected, we didn\u2019t detect gamma rays from Mars, but we put the instrument through its paces, and it performed excellently.\u201d <\/p>\n

The spacecraft\u2019s magnetometer, which has been running constantly since the spacecraft launched in 2023, got to stretch its legs around Mars. <\/p>\n

\u201cAs the spacecraft passed close to Mars, the magnetometer saw an intense uptick in magnetic field corresponding to the bow shock region, where the solar wind slams into the planet\u2019s magnetic field,\u201d adds Ben Weiss, Psyche\u2019s deputy principal investigator and the magnetometry investigation lead at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). \u201cThis flyby calibration effort validated the instrument\u2019s performance under dynamic conditions while also revealing the fascinating physics of planetary magnetism.\u201d <\/p>\n

Mars also gave Psyche a chance to showcase its image-capture capabilities. The spacecraft captured thousands of photos of Mars during approach, flyby, and departure, including some very rare and unusual views of the planet. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe imager performed brilliantly, delivering some rarely seen views of the Red Planet,\u201d explains Jim Bell, Psyche imager instrument lead at Arizona State University. <\/p>\n

\u201cBesides the obvious beauty of the photos, we were also able to fully test its calibration and sensitivity to scattered light, including picking out the Martian moons Phobos and Deimos from very far away as a part of a practice for the satellite search that we\u2019ll use at the asteroid Psyche to look for any moonlets there,\u201d Bell continues. <\/p>\n

\"Satellite<\/a>An incredible photo from Psyche\u2019s May flyby of Mars<\/p>\n

The Psyche team is currently comparing Psyche\u2019s images to those captured by Mars missions, including NASA\u2019s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter<\/a>, Curiosity<\/a>, and Perseverance<\/a>, to help calibrate Psyche\u2019s cameras. <\/p>\n

In the meantime, Psyche itself is continuing on its journey toward its primary target, Psyche 16. The spacecraft is expected to reach its target asteroid in the summer of 2029. Psyche\u2019s top speed is around 124,000 miles per hour (200,000 kilometers per hour), thanks in large part to the gravitational slingshot assist it received from Mars in May. <\/p>\n

Image creditsNASA\/JPL-Caltech\/ASU<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A colorized compilation of timelapse images NASA JPL\u2019s Psyche spacecraft captured from May 2 through May 15. Throughout…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":596371,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[270],"tags":[1204,20983,18,19,17,1203,1024,135605,133,451,8913],"class_list":["post-596370","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-space","tag-planet","tag-asteroid","tag-eire","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-mars","tag-nasa","tag-redplanet","tag-science","tag-space","tag-spacecraft"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/116956749154558435","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/596370","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=596370"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/596370\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/596371"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=596370"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=596370"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=596370"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}