NASA’s Psyche Mission Aces Mars Flyby, Targets Metal-Rich Asteroid - UNIVERSE

This view of a crescent Mars was captured on May 15, 2026, at about 5:03 a.m. PDT by NASA’s Psyche mission as it approached the planet for a gravity assist. The image has been processed into a natural-color view using red, green, and blue data from the multispectral imager instrument.

NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU

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 speed and to adjust the spacecraft’s orbital plane without using any onboard propellant, sending it on its way toward the metal-rich asteroid Psyche.

The spacecraft is now headed directly toward the asteroid, located in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. After the Mars flyby, the flight team analyzed radio signals between the spacecraft and NASA’s Deep Space Network (DSN), the agency’s global system for communicating with interplanetary spacecraft, to confirm that Psyche was on the correct trajectory.

“Although we were confident in our calculations and flight plan, monitoring the DSN’s Doppler signal in real time during the flyby was still exciting,” said Don Han, Psyche’s navigation lead at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. “We’ve confirmed that Mars gave the spacecraft a 1,000 mile‑per‑hour boost and shifted its orbital plane by about 1 degree relative to the Sun. We are now on course for arrival at the asteroid Psyche in summer 2029.” 

Unique Martian view

In the days running up to and during close approach, all of Psyche’s instruments were powered up for calibration efforts, including its imagers, magnetometers, and gamma-ray and neutron spectrometer. The planetary encounter provided the mission a valuable practice run for when it reaches the asteroid Psyche; as a bonus, it captured Mars images from a rare perspective. 

Because Psyche approached Mars from a high phase angle, the planet appeared as a thin crescent in the days running up to the close approach, lit by sunlight reflecting off its surface. In observations from the spacecraft’s multispectral imager, the crescent appeared brighter and extended farther around the planet’s disk than anticipated because of the strong scattering of sunlight through the planet’s dusty atmosphere. As Psyche passed from Mars’ nighttime skies to daytime, it took a rapid series of pictures of the surface around the time of closest approach. 

“We’ve captured thousands of images of the approach to Mars and of the planet’s surface and atmosphere at close approach. This dataset provides unique and important opportunities for us to calibrate and characterize the performance of the cameras, as well as test the early versions of our image processing tools being developed for use at the asteroid Psyche,” said Jim Bell, the Psyche imager instrument lead at Arizona State University (ASU) in Tempe. “As the spacecraft continues its journey after the flyby, we’ll continue calibration imaging of Mars for the rest of the month as it recedes into the distance.”  

Bell also leads the Mastcam-Z imaging investigation on NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover mission team, which was among several missions that provided complementary surface and atmospheric imaging as well as navigation data during the flyby to help with calibration efforts. Other missions involved include NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, 2001 Mars Odyssey orbiter, and Curiosity rover, along with ESA’s (European Space Agency’s) Mars Express and ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter. 

In addition to the imager, early calibration measurements made by Psyche’s magnetometers may have detected Mars’ bow shock as the spacecraft passed the planet. The gamma-ray and neutron spectrometer team was also quickly gathering data to calibrate the instrument by comparing their measurements with the large pool of existing Mars data.

Onward to asteroid Psyche

With Mars in the rearview mirror, the spacecraft will soon resume using its solar-electric propulsion system to make a beeline to the main asteroid belt. When it arrives in August 2029, it will insert itself into orbit around the asteroid Psyche, which is thought to be the partial core of a planetesimal, a building block of an early planet. Through a series of circular orbits that go lower and then higher in altitude around Psyche, which is about 173 miles (280 kilometers) across at its widest point, the spacecraft will map the asteroid and gather science data.  

If the asteroid proves to be the metallic core of an ancient planetesimal, it could offer a one-of-a-kind window into the interior of rocky planets like Earth. 

“We’ve been anticipating the Mars flyby for years, but now it’s complete. We can thank the Red Planet for giving our spacecraft a critical gravitational slingshot farther into the solar system,” said Lindy Elkins-Tanton, principal investigator for Psyche at the University of California, Berkeley. “Onward to the asteroid Psyche!”

More about Psyche

The Psyche mission is led by ASU. A division of Caltech in Pasadena, JPL is responsible for the mission’s overall management, system engineering, integration and test, and mission operations. Intuitive Machines in Palo Alto, California, provided the high-power solar electric propulsion spacecraft chassis. The operations of the imager instrument are led by ASU, collaborating with Malin Space Science Systems in San Diego on the design, fabrication, and testing of the cameras. 

Psyche is the 14th mission selected as part of NASA’s Discovery Program, managed by the agency’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. NASA’s Launch Services Program, based at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, managed the launch service. 

For more information about NASA’s Psyche mission, visit: https://science.nasa.gov/mission/psyche/ 

Source: NASA’s Psyche Mission Aces Mars Flyby, Targets Metal-Rich Asteroid - NASA

100% renewable energy by 2050? A global model maps the way forward - Energy & Green Tech

Credit: Image generated by the editorial team using AI for illustrative purposes.

Reaching a perfect balance between the amount of greenhouse gases released in the atmosphere and those that are removed, is considered an important milestone for limiting global warming and its adverse effects on the environment on Earth. This goal is referred to as net-zero emissions, as it would entail that emissions and removed gases would balance each other out, resulting in zero total greenhouse gas emissions.

To pave the way for net-zero emissions, many energy engineers and global leaders have been developing and facilitating the deployment of energy technologies that produce, store and distribute electricity sourced from renewable sources. The most established among these technologies are solar cells and wind turbines, yet they also include hydroelectric power systems, green hydrogen production systems, devices for capturing carbon dioxide (CO₂) and various other energy solutions.

Researchers at Tsinghua University and other institutes recently carried out a study aimed at exploring the possibility that the world could realistically run entirely on clean electricity by 2050. Their paper, published in Nature Energy, presents a detailed model of a fully renewable global power system, estimating hourly energy demands across different geographic regions worldwide and introduces a proposal of how renewable energy technologies could help meet these demands.

"Achieving global net-zero power systems by mid-century demands integrated frameworks addressing climate mitigation and energy access equity," write Ziheng Zhu, Hanjie Mao and their colleagues in their paper. "We present a spatio-temporally resolved global power system model (0.25° × 0.25°, 8,760 hours) co-optimizing capacity expansion and operational strategies."

Scenario framework and associated SCOE for net-zero power systems. The left panel illustrates the conceptual design of 15 scenarios, diverging from the BASE scenario along axes of demand growth and socio-technological advancement (scenario definition in Extended Data Table 1). The right panel presents the corresponding SCOE (US dollar per megawatt-hour) breakdown by technology and transmission infrastructure for each scenario. SCOE is defined as the annualized capital and operational expenditures divided by total electricity demand, excluding distribution and administrative costs. UHV: ultra-high voltage; DPV: distributed photovoltaic; UPV: utility-scale photovoltaic; CCS: carbon capture and storage. Credit: Zhu et al. (Nature Energy, 2026).

Modeling a fully renewable global power system

The primary goal of the recent study was to devise a model outlining the energy infrastructure and technologies that would enable all regions worldwide to rely on electricity sourced from renewable sources. The model created by the researchers simulates the electricity demands of all geographical regions worldwide over the course of one year, breaking them down on an hour-to-hour basis.

The model predicted the deployment of solar cells and wind energy solutions based on available land, then looked at how close these technologies would be to inhabited areas requiring electricity. Using the model they created, the team tried to predict whether it is actually feasible for the world to only rely on electricity from renewable sources.

"Our findings show that net-zero global power systems meeting universal electricity needs for decent living standards are technically feasible, requiring 15–20 TW of variable renewable energy (VRE)," write Zhu, Mao and their colleagues. "Abundant VRE resources offer cost-effective electricity access in low-income regions, such as Africa, promoting climate justice. Land use is critical, with solar photovoltaics alone requiring over 9 million hectares. Over 80% of VRE is within 200 km of load centers."

Overall, the team's analyses suggest that realizing a global electricity system that yields net-zero emissions is technically possible. Moreover, they show that some geographical regions, particularly parts of Africa, would benefit greatly from the introduction of more affordable renewable energy technologies and solutions.

Optimized deployment of variable renewable energy. Credit: Nature Energy (2026). DOI: 10.1038/s41560-026-02054-1

Insights and implications for renewable energy efforts

The model created by the researchers also pinpoints some of the challenges that could be faced when trying to create a fully renewable global energy system. Specifically, it shows that to achieve such a system, solar cells alone might need to be deployed in over 9 million hectares of land, which might not be ideal or might be difficult to achieve.

The team's efforts also allowed them to identify strategies that could lower the costs of a worldwide net-zero electricity system. These include demand-side management (i.e., changes in when and how people use electricity), expanding large power lines that transmit electricity across different countries and removing trade barriers (e.g., tariffs, import taxes and trade restrictions).

"Demand-side management could reduce system costs by 6.5% (∼US$182 billion yr⁻¹). Expanding international transmission and removing renewable technology trade barriers could cut costs by 5.6% (∼US$157 billion yr⁻¹) and 12.2% (∼US$345 billion yr⁻¹), underscoring the pivotal role of international collaboration in building inclusive net-zero power systems," the researchers state.

This recent study could potentially guide the work of global leaders and policymakers who are currently working to reduce emissions within the energy sector. For instance, it could encourage them to invest in international power transmission infrastructure, reduce or remove taxes on renewable energy and address other factors that could limit the trade of renewable energy across different geographical regions. 

by Ingrid Fadelli, Phys.org

edited by Gaby Clark, reviewed by Robert Egan 

Source: 100% renewable energy by 2050? A global model maps the way forward