Psyche spacecraft
Psyche is a solar-electric interplanetary spacecraft built around a Maxar chassis and integrated and operated by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Its large solar arrays and Hall-effect thrusters support a Mars gravity assist and a multi-orbit investigation of the metal-rich asteroid 16 Psyche.
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Identity
- Aliases
- PsychePsyche spacecraftNASA Psyche spacecraft
- Family Name
- Psyche
- Full Name
- Psyche spacecraft
- Roles
- interplanetary_probeflybyorbiterresearchtechnology_demonstrator
- Status
- active
- Type
- spacecraft
Details
- Description
- Psyche is a solar-electric interplanetary spacecraft built around a Maxar chassis and integrated and operated by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Its large solar arrays and Hall-effect thrusters support a Mars gravity assist and a multi-orbit investigation of the metal-rich asteroid 16 Psyche.
- First Flight Year
- 2,023
- Manufacturer
- Operator
- Propulsion Configurations
- Entries
- Count
- 4
- Placement
- spacecraft
- Propulsion System
- Role
- main
- Variant Notes
- Four SPT-140 Hall thrusters; one active at a time, up to 240 mN per NASA Psyche documentation.
- Name
- Psyche main solar-electric propulsion
- Notes
- NASA documents four SPT-140 Hall-effect thrusters using xenon; only one thruster operates at a time. The separately described nitrogen cold-gas system remains outside this packet because its exact canonical identity is unresolved.
- Spacecraft Specs
- Launch Mass Kg
- 2,747
- Reusability
- expendable
Links
Assets & Meta
- Creation Time
- July 29, 2026 at 10:14:49 UTC
- Updated Time
- August 15, 2026 at 08:11:44 UTC