Category: Launch Services Program

NASA Invites Digital Content Creators to Cover Psyche Launch

The Psyche mission is scheduled to lift off at 10:38 a.m. EDT on Thursday, Oct. 5, on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket from Launch Complex 39A at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
NASA’s Psyche mission is scheduled to lift off at 10:38 a.m. EDT Thursday, Oct. 5, on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket from Launch Complex 39A at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. NASA’s Launch Services Program is managing the launch.

Digital content creators are invited to register to attend the launch of NASA’s Psyche spacecraft and create content based on the experience. The Psyche mission will journey to a unique metal-rich asteroid orbiting the Sun between Mars and Jupiter.

Psyche is scheduled to lift off at 10:38 a.m. EDT on Thursday, Oct. 5, on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket from Launch Complex 39A at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. NASA’s Launch Services Program is managing the launch.

If your passion is to communicate and engage people online, then this event is for you! Seize the opportunity to see and share the #MissionToPsyche launch. A maximum of 35 social media users will be selected to attend this two-day event (Oct. 4-5, 2023) and will be given access similar to news media.

NASA Social participants will have the opportunity to:

  • View a launch of the SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket
  • Tour NASA facilities at Kennedy Space Center
  • Meet and interact with Psyche science and engineering experts
  • Meet fellow space enthusiasts who are active on social media

NASA Social registration for the Psyche launch opens on Tuesday, Aug. 22, and the deadline to apply is 12 p.m. EDT Monday, Aug. 28. All social applications will be considered on a case-by-case basis.

Click here to read the full feature.

Psyche Spacecraft Headed for Xenon Fueling

NASA's Psyche spacecraft is crated and moved by truck to Astrotech Building 9 for xenon fueling.
Technicians moved NASA’s Psyche spacecraft, secured for transport, into the entrance of Building 9 at the Astrotech Space Operations Facility near the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Aug. 14, 2023. This move will allow a team of technicians and engineers to load the spacecraft with xenon gas. Photo credit: NASA/Ben Smegelsky

NASA’s Psyche spacecraft took another step closer on its upcoming journey to a metal-rich asteroid of the same name. On Aug. 14, a team of technicians and engineers moved the spacecraft from Building 1 to Building 9 at Astrotech Space Operations facility near the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Inside Building 9, technicians will load about one metric ton of xenon gas into seven 22-gallon tanks inside the spacecraft.

Psyche’s solar electric propulsion will use large solar arrays to convert sunlight into electricity, which will power four Hall thrusters. The thrusters will use electric and magnetic fields to accelerate and expel charged xenon particles, or ions, to create thrust and propel the spacecraft to its destination after launch. The thrusters will operate one at a time and will have a blue glow from the xenon.

Psyche is targeted to launch Oct. 5 atop a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket from Launch Complex 39A at Kennedy. After launch, Psyche is set to arrive at the asteroid in July 2029, where it will spend 26 months gathering observations that will help scientists learn more about planetary formation.

In addition to its primary mission, Psyche has NASA’s Deep Space Optical Communications (DSOC) technology demonstration onboard the spacecraft. DSOC will be the agency’s first demonstration of optical communication beyond the Moon. DSOC will send test data to and from Earth using an invisible near-infrared laser, which has much higher bandwidth than radio wave systems currently used on spacecraft.

Solar Arrays Successfully Installed on NASA’s Psyche Spacecraft

Solar arrays for NASA’s Psyche spacecraft near Kennedy Space Center in Florida
Technicians begin to retract one of the two solar arrays attached to NASA’s Psyche spacecraft. This photo was taken on July 25 inside the Astrotech Space Operations facility near the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Credits: NASA/Kim Shiflett

NASA’s Psyche spacecraft has completed another milestone. Solar arrays are now ready to power the spacecraft on a 2.5-billion-mile (4-billion-kilometer) journey to a metal-rich asteroid to help us learn more about planet formation. A team of engineers and technicians received, prepared, and installed the solar arrays on the spacecraft at the Astrotech Space Operations Facility near the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

Learn more about the solar arrays here: https://www.nasa.gov/feature/jpl/huge-solar-arrays-permanently-installed-on-nasa-s-psyche-spacecraft

TROPICS Launch Date Set

NASA and Rocket Lab are targeting no earlier than 1:30 a.m. EDT (5:30 p.m. NZST) Monday, May 22, for the launch of the agency’s TROPICS (Time-Resolved Observations of Precipitation structure and storm Intensity with a Constellation of Smallsats) mission, on an Electron rocket from Launch Complex 1 in Māhia, New Zealand.

The launch will place a pair of CubeSats in low Earth orbit, and they will join another pair of TROPICS satellites that made it to orbit last week after launching on an Electron rocket from New Zealand. Together the four satellites will orbit in two equally spaced orbital planes, which will distribute them for optimal coverage over the tropics. The orbiting TROPICS constellation of satellites will study the formation and development of tropical cyclones, known as hurricanes in the Atlantic and typhoons in the West Pacific, making observations of temperature, precipitation, water vapor, and cloud ice more often than what is possible with current weather satellites. They they will join the TROPICS Pathfinder satellite, in orbit since its launch in June of 2021.

Follow launch updates on NASA’s Small Satellite Missions blog and stay connected with the mission on social media.

Twitter: @NASA_LSP, @NASAEarth,  @NASAGoddard, @NASA, @RocketLab
Facebook: NASA, NASA LSP, RocketLabUSA
Instagram: @NASA, @NASAEarth, @RocketLabUSA

Signal Acquired!

Team members successfully sent commands to the first CubeSat at 1:48 a.m. EDT, May 8. Subsequently, they established communications with the second CubeSat at 6:31 a.m. EDT. Read the NASA release here.

For imagery of this mission, please check here.

Follow launch updates on this blog and stay connected with the mission on social media.

Twitter: @NASA_LSP, @NASAEarth, @NASAKennedy, @NASA, @RocketLab

Facebook: NASA, NASA LSP, RocketLabUSA

Instagram: @NASA, @NASAEarth, @RocketLabUSA

Working Toward Signal Acquisition

Two TROPICS CubeSats successfully deployed from a Rocket Lab Electron rocket after launch.

The team is working toward signal acquisition from the pair of TROPICS CubeSats. NASA will continue to assess data from periodic pass opportunities. It is not unexpected for CubeSats to take some time to establish communications. We will provide confirmation when signal is acquired.

The second pair of TROPICS CubeSats is planned to launch aboard another Rocket Lab Electron rocket, named Coming To A Storm Near You, in about two weeks from Launch Complex 1 at Māhia, New Zealand.

Follow launch updates on this blog and stay connected with the mission on social media. This concludes our coverage of this launch.

Twitter: @NASA_LSP, @NASAEarth, @NASAKennedy, @NASA, @RocketLab

Facebook: NASA, NASA LSP, RocketLabUSA

Instagram: @NASA, @NASAEarth, @RocketLabUSA

Deployment Confirmed

Rocket Lab confirms Electron has successfully deployed the two TROPICS satellites to orbit.

TROPICS CubeSats Expected to Have Deployed

NASA’s TROPICS CubeSats are expected to have deployed from the Rocket Lab’s Electron kick stage. The two CubeSats will reach low-Earth orbit to begin their mission.

Each of the CubeSats was designed to last approximately two years, but analysis, lifetime testing of key parts, and on-orbit experiences with similar hardware could help the satellites surpass their design lifetime.

Electron’s Second Stage Separates

The second stage of Rocket Lab’s Electron has cut off and separated from the payload kick stage. Soon, the kick stage engine will ignite and burn for about three minutes before it cuts off.

Electron Performs Battery Hot Swap

The Electron rocket has successfully completed the battery hot swap, switching power between batteries. The next milestone is second stage separation in about three minutes.