NASA’s Psyche Captures Pictures of Earth, Moon

Headed for a metal-rich asteroid of the identical identify, the Psyche spacecraft efficiently calibrated its cameras by trying homeward.

On schedule for its 2029 arrival on the asteroid Psyche, NASA’s Psyche spacecraft just lately appeared again towards house and captured pictures of Earth and our Moon from about 180 million miles (290 million kilometers) away. The pictures have been obtained throughout one of many mission staff’s periodic checkouts of the spacecraft’s science devices.

On July 20 and July 23, the spacecraft’s twin cameras captured a number of long-exposure (as much as 10-second) photos of the 2 our bodies, which seem as dots glowing with mirrored daylight amid a starfield within the constellation Aries.

The Psyche multispectral imager instrument includes a pair of equivalent cameras outfitted with filters and telescopic lenses to {photograph} the asteroid Psyche’s floor in several wavelengths of sunshine. The colour and form of a planetary physique’s spectrum can reveal particulars about what it’s fabricated from. The Moon and the enormous asteroid Vesta, for instance, have related sorts of “bumps and wiggles” of their spectra that scientists might probably additionally detect at Psyche. Members of the mission’s science staff are enthusiastic about Psyche as a result of it can assist them higher perceive the formation of rocky planets with metallic cores, together with Earth.

When selecting targets for the imager testing and calibration, scientists search for our bodies that shine with mirrored daylight, simply because the asteroid Psyche does. They additionally have a look at objects which have a spectrum they’re accustomed to, to allow them to examine earlier telescopic or spacecraft information from these objects with what Psyche’s devices observe. Earlier this yr, Psyche turned its lenses towards Jupiter and Mars for calibration — every has a spectrum extra reddish than the bluer tones of Earth. That checkout additionally proved a hit.

To decide whether or not the imager’s efficiency is altering, scientists additionally examine information from the completely different exams. That means, when the spacecraft slips into orbit round Psyche, scientists can make certain that the instrument behaves as anticipated.

“After this, we may look at Saturn or Vesta to help us continue to test the imagers,” mentioned 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.”

The imager wasn’t the one instrument that obtained a profitable checkout in late July: The mission staff additionally put the spacecraft’s magnetometer and the gamma-ray and neutron spectrometer by a gamut of exams — one thing they do each six months.

“We are up and running, and everything is working well,” mentioned Bob Mase, the mission’s undertaking supervisor 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 subsequent large milestone, when it can use the Red Planet’s gravity as a slingshot to assist the spacecraft get to the asteroid Psyche. That will mark Psyche’s first of two deliberate loops across the photo voltaic system and 1 billion miles (1.6 billion kilometers) since launching from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in October 2023.

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 chargeable for the mission’s general administration, system engineering, integration and take a look at, and mission operations. Maxar Technologies in Palo Alto, California, supplied the high-power photo voltaic electrical 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 chosen as a part of NASA’s Discovery Program, managed by the company’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. NASA’s Launch Services Program, based mostly at Kennedy, managed the launch service.

Gretchen McCartney
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
818-287-4115
[email protected] 

Karen Fox / Molly Wasser
NASA Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1600
[email protected] / [email protected]

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