Psyche is a spacecraft traveling to the asteroid 16 Psyche, a 140-mile-wide body in the main belt that appears to be made largely of iron and nickel. One leading theory: it is the exposed core of a protoplanet whose rocky outer layers were stripped away by ancient collisions.
The mission launched in October 2023 and cruises on solar-electric propulsion, gentle ion thrusters that fire continuously for years. It also carried DSOC, a laser communications experiment that beamed data from beyond the Moon at broadband speeds.
No spacecraft has ever visited a metal world. Earth's core sits 1,800 miles down, forever out of reach; 16 Psyche may be the same material floating in the open, close enough to orbit and map.
Key Facts
- Launched
- October 13, 2023, on Falcon Heavy
- Target
- Asteroid 16 Psyche, main belt
- Arrival
- Planned 2029
- Propulsion
- Solar-electric ion thrusters
- Asteroid size
- About 140 miles wide, metal-rich
Timeline
October 2023
Launch from Kennedy Space Center
November 2023
DSOC laser link demonstrates deep space optical comms
May 2026
Mars gravity assist
Next up
Asteroid arrival, planned 2029
Latest Psyche News
NASA’s Psyche Mission Aces Mars Flyby, Targets Metal-Rich Asteroid
NASA’s Psyche spacecraft completed its close approach of Mars on May 15, coming within 2,864 miles (4,609 kilometers) of the planet’s surface. This flyby used a gravity assist from Mars to provide a critical boost in spe
Psyche
Facts last reviewed 2026-07-11. Official mission page: science.nasa.gov