Headed for a metal-rich asteroid of the same name, the Psyche spacecraft successfully calibrated its cameras by looking homeward.<\/p>\n
On schedule for its 2029 arrival at the asteroid Psyche, NASA\u2019s Psyche spacecraft recently looked back toward home and captured images of Earth and our Moon from about 180 million miles (290 million kilometers) away. The images were obtained during one of the mission team\u2019s periodic checkouts of the spacecraft\u2019s science instruments.<\/p>\n
On July 20 and July 23, the spacecraft\u2019s twin cameras captured multiple long-exposure (up to 10-second) pictures of the two bodies, which appear as dots sparkling with reflected sunlight amid a starfield in the constellation Aries.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Learn more about the multispectral imager aboard Psyche that will use a pair of identical cameras with filters and telescopic lenses to photograph the surface of the asteroid in different wavelengths of light. NASA\/JPL-Caltech\/ASU<\/p>\n
The Psyche multispectral imager<\/a> instrument comprises a pair of identical cameras equipped with filters and telescopic lenses to photograph the asteroid Psyche\u2019s surface in different wavelengths of light. The color and shape of a planetary body\u2019s spectrum can reveal details about what it\u2019s made of. The Moon and the giant asteroid Vesta, for example, have similar kinds of \u201cbumps and wiggles\u201d in their spectra that scientists could potentially also detect at Psyche. Members of the mission\u2019s science team are interested in Psyche because it will help them better understand the formation of rocky planets with metallic cores, including Earth.<\/p>\n When choosing targets for the imager testing and calibration, scientists look for bodies that shine with reflected sunlight, just as the asteroid Psyche does. They also look at objects that have a spectrum they\u2019re familiar with, so they can compare previous telescopic or spacecraft data from those objects with what Psyche\u2019s instruments observe. Earlier this year, Psyche<\/a> turned its lenses toward Jupiter and Mars<\/a> for calibration \u2014 each has a spectrum more reddish than the bluer tones of Earth. That checkout also proved a success.<\/p>\n To determine whether the imager\u2019s performance is changing, scientists also compare data from the different tests. That way, when the spacecraft slips into orbit around Psyche, scientists can be sure that the instrument behaves as expected.<\/p>\n \u201cAfter this, we may look at Saturn or Vesta to help us continue to test the imagers,\u201d said Jim Bell, the Psyche imager instrument lead at Arizona State University in Tempe. \u201cWe\u2019re sort of collecting solar system \u2018trading cards\u2019 from these different bodies and running them through our calibration pipeline to make sure we\u2019re getting the right answers.\u201d<\/p>\n The imager wasn\u2019t the only instrument that got a successful checkout in late July: The mission team also put the spacecraft\u2019s magnetometer and the gamma-ray and neutron spectrometer through a gamut of tests \u2014 something they do every six months.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are up and running, and everything is working well,\u201d said Bob Mase, the mission\u2019s project manager at NASA\u2019s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. \u201cWe\u2019re on target to fly by Mars in May 2026, and we are accomplishing all of our planned activities for cruise.\u201d<\/p>\n That flyby is the spacecraft\u2019s next big milestone, when it will use the Red Planet\u2019s gravity as a slingshot to help the spacecraft get to the asteroid Psyche. That will mark Psyche\u2019s first of two planned loops around the solar system and 1 billion miles (1.6 billion kilometers) since launching from NASA\u2019s Kennedy Space Center in October 2023.<\/p>\n The Psyche mission is led by ASU. Lindy Elkins-Tanton of the University of California, Berkeley is the principal investigator.A division of Caltech in Pasadena, JPL is responsible for the mission\u2019s overall management, system engineering, integration and test, and mission operations. Maxar Technologies in Palo Alto, California, provided the high-power solar electric propulsion spacecraft chassis. ASU leads the operations of the imager instrument, working in collaboration with Malin Space Science Systems in San Diego on the design, fabrication, and testing of the cameras.<\/p>\n For more information about NASA\u2019s Psyche mission go to:<\/p>\n https:\/\/science.nasa.gov\/mission\/psyche\/<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n Gretchen McCartney Karen Fox \/ Molly Wasser 2025-106<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Headed for a metal-rich asteroid of the same name, the Psyche spacecraft successfully calibrated its cameras by looking…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":159396,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[9603,28892,92427,159,50340,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-159395","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-science","8":"tag-asteroids","9":"tag-jet-propulsion-laboratory","10":"tag-psyche-mission","11":"tag-science","12":"tag-the-solar-system","13":"tag-united-states","14":"tag-unitedstates","15":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115057573588136235","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/159395","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=159395"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/159395\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/159396"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=159395"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=159395"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=159395"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
818-287-4115
gretchen.p.mccartney@jpl.nasa.gov\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n
NASA Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1600
karen.c.fox@nasa.gov<\/a> \/ molly.l.wasser@nasa.gov<\/a><\/p>\n