NASA’s Psyche captured images of Earth and our Moon
from about 180 million miles (290 kilometers) away in July 2025, as it
calibrated its imager instrument. When choosing targets for the imager testing,
scientists look for bodies that shine with reflected sunlight, just as the
asteroid Psyche does.
NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU
Headed for a metal-rich asteroid of the same name, the Psyche spacecraft
successfully calibrated its cameras by looking homeward.
On schedule for its 2029 arrival at
the asteroid Psyche, NASA’s 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’s periodic checkouts of the spacecraft’s science instruments.
On July 20 and July 23, the spacecraft’s 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.
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
The Psyche multispectral imager instrument comprises a pair of identical cameras
equipped with filters and telescopic lenses to photograph the asteroid Psyche’s
surface in different wavelengths of light. The color and shape of a planetary
body’s spectrum can reveal details about what it’s made of. The Moon and the
giant asteroid Vesta, for example, have similar kinds of “bumps and wiggles” in
their spectra that scientists could potentially also detect at Psyche. Members
of the mission’s science team are interested in Psyche because it will help
them better understand the formation of rocky planets with metallic cores,
including Earth.
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’re familiar with, so they can compare previous
telescopic or spacecraft data from those objects with what Psyche’s instruments
observe. Earlier this year, Psyche turned its lenses toward Jupiter
and Mars for
calibration — each has a spectrum more reddish than the bluer tones of Earth. That checkout also proved a
success.
The Psyche spacecraft is taking a spiral path around
the solar system in order to get a boost from a Mars gravity assist in 2026. It
will arrive at the asteroid Psyche in 2029.
NASA/JPL-Caltech
To determine whether the imager’s 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.
“After this, we may look at Saturn
or Vesta to help us continue to test the imagers,” said Jim Bell, the Psyche
imager instrument lead at Arizona State University in Tempe. “We’re sort of
collecting solar system ‘trading cards’ from these different bodies and running
them through our calibration pipeline to make sure we’re getting the right
answers.”
Strong and
Sturdy
The imager wasn’t the only
instrument that got a successful checkout in late July: The mission team also
put the spacecraft’s magnetometer and the gamma-ray and neutron spectrometer
through a gamut of tests — something they do every six months.
“We are up and running, and
everything is working well,” said Bob Mase, the mission’s project manager at
NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. “We’re on target to
fly by Mars in May 2026, and we are accomplishing all of our planned activities
for cruise.”
That flyby is the spacecraft’s next
big milestone, when it will use the Red Planet’s gravity as a slingshot to help
the spacecraft get to the asteroid Psyche. That will mark Psyche’s first of two
planned loops around the solar system and 1 billion miles (1.6 billion
kilometers) since launching from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in October 2023.
More About
Psyche
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’s 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.
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 Kennedy, managed the launch
service.
For more information about NASA’s Psyche mission go to: https://science.nasa.gov/mission/psyche/
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