NASA’s Psyche spacecraft completed a successful flyby of Mars on May 15, using the planet’s gravity to speed up and slightly redirect its path, according to ScienceDaily. The maneuver put the spacecraft on course for asteroid Psyche in the main asteroid belt.
The encounter also gave mission scientists a chance to test the spacecraft’s instruments on a well-known target. Researchers said the data matched what is already known about Mars while also adding useful observations from Psyche’s unusual viewing angle.
According to Lindy Elkins-Tanton, Psyche’s principal investigator at the University of California, Berkeley, the mission’s imager, magnetometer and gamma-ray and neutron spectrometer all performed well during the flyby. David Lawrence, who leads the spectrometer science, said the instrument detected the expected neutron signal and operated excellently, though it did not pick up gamma rays from Mars.
The spacecraft’s magnetometer recorded the magnetic effects of Mars for the first time, including the bow shock region where the solar wind meets the planet. Meanwhile, Psyche’s cameras captured a monthlong sequence of Mars, including a crescent view, surface features and the planet’s moons Phobos and Deimos, which will help the team prepare for the mission’s work at asteroid Psyche in 2029.
