Signal Acquired – Psyche Begins Its Journey of Discovery

A SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket with the Psyche spacecraft onboard is launched from Launch Complex 39A, Friday, Oct. 13, 2023, at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
A SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket with the Psyche spacecraft onboard launches at 10:19 EDT Friday, Oct. 13, 2023, from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Photo credit: NASA/Aubrey Gemignani

Psyche mission controllers on Earth have received full acquisition of signal from the spacecraft, and the solar arrays are fully deployed. The spacecraft will be propelled by solar electric propulsion. The five-panel, cross-shaped solar arrays provide around 800 square feet of solar collecting surface and make the spacecraft about the size of a singles tennis court when fully deployed.

The solar arrays will produce more than 20 kilowatts of power when the spacecraft is near Earth, but they will generate just over 2 kilowatts of power – just a little more power than a hair dryer – when it reaches the asteroid Psyche, which is far away from the Sun. However, this will be more than enough power to meet the spacecraft’s needs on its journey, including running science instruments, telecommunications, equipment that controls the spacecraft’s temperature, and the spacecraft’s superefficient solar electric propulsion engines.

The solar propulsion system’s thrusters use electromagnetic fields to accelerate and push out charged atoms, or ions, of the neutral gas xenon. The expelled ions create the thrust that pushes Psyche through space and emit a blue glow. With no atmospheric drag to hold it back, the spacecraft will accelerate to speeds of up to 124,000 mph (200,000 kph) relative to Earth during its interplanetary journey to the asteroid belt.

At the beginning of its roughly six-year journey, the Psyche spacecraft will spend about 100 days in initial checkout to make sure everything is functioning properly, before firing up its thrusters. About 2.5 years after launch, the spacecraft will fly by Mars for a gravity boost. About 5.5 years from now, the cruise period will be ending, and around June 2029, the imagers on the spacecraft will be able to take photos of the asteroid Psyche. In August 2029, the spacecraft will drop into its first of 26 months of planned orbits around the metal-rich asteroid.

NASA’s DSOC (Deep Space Optical Communications) demonstration, carried by the Psyche spacecraft, will send and receive test data using an invisible near-infrared laser, which can transmit data at 10 to 100 times the bandwidth of conventional radio wave systems used on spacecraft today. DSOC will demonstrate operations for nearly two years after NASA’s Psyche mission launch while en route to its 2026 Mars flyby.

The Psyche mission is led by Arizona State University. NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory is responsible for mission management, operations, and navigation. NASA’s Launch Services Program, based at Kennedy Space Center, is responsible for the insight and approval of the launch vehicle and manages the launch service for the Psyche mission. LSP certified the SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket for use with the agency’s most complex and highest priority missions in early 2023 at the conclusion of a 2.5-year effort.

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.

JPL manages DSOC for the Technology Demonstration Missions program within NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate and the Space Communications and Navigation program within the Space Operations Mission Directorate. DSOC will take optical communications into deep space for the first time and set the foundation for establishing higher data-rate returns from future robotic and human missions to Mars and beyond.

To read more about today’s launch, please visit:

https://www.nasa.gov/news-release/nasas-psyche-spacecraft-optical-comms-demo-en-route-to-asteroid/

Psyche Spacecraft Separates From Falcon Heavy Second Stage

The Psyche spacecraft separated from the SpaceX Falcon Heavy second stage. Psyche mission control has acquired the carrier wave signal, which provides real-time data prior to deployment of the spacecraft’s solar arrays and before full acquisition of signal, expected in the next few hours.

While NASA’s DSOC (Deep Space Optical Communications) – integrated on the Psyche spacecraft – will begin its demonstration in the weeks after launch, the tech demo will not relay Psyche mission data. The success of each project is evaluated independently of the other.

Live coverage of the Psyche mission continues on NASA TV, YouTube, Twitter, the NASA app, or the agency’s website. You can also follow along right here on the blog for more Psyche updates.

Second Stage Engine Cutoff Reached

A SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket with the Psyche spacecraft onboard lifts off from Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Complex 39A at 10:19 a.m. EDT Friday, Oct. 13, 2023.
A SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket with the Psyche spacecraft onboard lifts off from Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Complex 39A at 10:19 a.m. EDT Friday, Oct. 13, 2023. Photo credit: NASA Television

The initial second stage engine cutoff (SECO-1) is complete. The second stage engine will restart for its second burn (SES-2) in just about 44 minutes. This second burn (SECO-2) will give the Psyche spacecraft the additional thrust needed to escape Earth’s gravity, after which the spacecraft will separate from the second stage. The deployed Psyche spacecraft will then continue its roughly six-year journey to the asteroid Psyche.

You can continue watching the launch live coverage on NASA TV, YouTube, Twitter, the NASA app, or the agency’s website, and follow along right here on the blog for updates through Psyche’s deployment.

Successful Landing of Side Boosters

A side booster from SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket successfully lands at the company’s landing zone at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida on Friday, Oct. 13, 2023, just minutes after NASA’s Psyche launch from Kennedy Space Center. The Psyche mission will study a metal-rich asteroid with the same name, located in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. This is NASA’s first mission to study an asteroid that has more metal than rock or ice.
A side booster from SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket successfully lands at the company’s landing zone at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida on Friday, Oct. 13, 2023, just minutes after NASA’s Psyche launch from Kennedy Space Center. Photo credit: SpaceX

The side boosters from the Falcon Heavy have landed successfully at SpaceX’s Landing Zone 1 and Landing Zone 2 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida, nearby Kennedy Space Center.

Separation of First and Second Stages, Second Engine Starts

Just moments ago, the first and second stages of the Falcon Heavy center core separated, and the second stage engine started.

Launch Vehicle Reaches Max Q, Booster Engines Cutoff

The Falcon Heavy side boosters separate from the center core to begin their descent back to Earth after the launch of the Psyche mission, Friday, Oct. 13, 2023.
The Falcon Heavy side boosters separate from the center core to begin their descent back to Earth after the launch of the Psyche mission, Friday, Oct. 13, 2023. Photo credit: NASA Television

The Falcon Heavy passed Max Q, or the moment of peak mechanical stress on the rocket, and reached booster engine cutoff (BECO), where both boosters cease firing and separate from the center core to begin their descent back to Earth.

The side boosters have begun their journey back to Landing Zones 1 and 2 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida, which will be followed in a few minutes by separation of the central booster from the second stage that carries the Psyche spacecraft.

The side boosters from SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket come in for a successful landing at the company’s landing zone at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida on Friday, Oct. 13, 2023, just minutes after NASA’s Psyche launch from Kennedy Space Center.
The side boosters from SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket descend for landing at the company’s landing zone at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida on Friday, Oct. 13, 2023, just minutes after NASA’s Psyche launch from Kennedy Space Center. Photo credit: SpaceX

Liftoff of NASA’s Psyche and DSOC Experiment!

NASA’s Psyche spacecraft, atop a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket, lifts off from Kennedy Space Center’s historic Launch Complex 39A in Florida at 10:19 a.m. EDT on Friday, Oct. 13, 2023.
NASA’s Psyche spacecraft, atop a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket, lifts off from Kennedy Space Center’s historic Launch Complex 39A in Florida at 10:19 a.m. EDT on Friday, Oct. 13, 2023. Photo credit: SpaceX

We have liftoff! NASA’s Psyche spacecraft, along with the agency’s DSOC (Deep Space Optical Communications) technology demonstration, launched from Launch Complex 39A at Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 10:19 a.m. EDT.

The Falcon Heavy’s 27 Merlin engines are generating more than 5,000,000 pounds of thrust, quickly pushing the vehicle through the atmosphere and away from the Florida spaceport. The Falcon Heavy first stage consists of three Falcon 9 boosters strapped together – two sides and a central booster. An upper second stage atop the central booster carries the Psyche spacecraft.

SpaceX will land the side boosters in about eight minutes at Landing Zones 1 and 2 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, nearby Kennedy.

Coming up next, the launch vehicle will reach Max Q, or moment of peak mechanical stress on rocket, followed by booster engine cutoff just over a minute later.

NASA Launch Manager Gives ‘Go’ for Launch

A SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket with the Psyche spacecraft onboard is ready for launch at Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Complex 39A on Friday, Oct. 13, 2023.
A SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket with the Psyche spacecraft onboard is ready for launch at Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Complex 39A on Friday, Oct. 13, 2023. Photo credit: NASA Television

The NASA launch manager, Tim Dunn, has just given NASA’s Psyche mission a “go” for launch! Mission and launch managers are counting down to the liftoff of the SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

This will be the first interplanetary mission for SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy. This is also the Falcon Heavy’s first science mission for NASA’s Launch Services Program, based at Kennedy. As for the rocket itself, this will be the first flight for the center core, and fourth flight of the side boosters. The first demonstration flight of SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket took place from Kennedy’s Launch Complex 39A on Feb. 6, 2018.

Launch is in less than a minute!

Weather Is Still 85% Go

A SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket with the Psyche spacecraft onboard is ready for launch at Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Complex 39A on Friday, Oct. 13, 2023.
A SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket with the Psyche spacecraft onboard is ready for launch at Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Complex 39A on Friday, Oct. 13, 2023. Photo credit: NASA Television

We are about 10 minutes from launch, and the weather outlook for NASA’s Psyche launch from Kennedy Space Center remains outstanding. Weather officials with Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s 45th Weather Squadron predict an 85% chance of favorable conditions for liftoff of NASA’s mission to the asteroid Psyche.

NASA’s Psyche: By the Numbers

Psyche spacecraft, shown close to a colorful asteroid.
Artist’s concept illustration depicting the spacecraft of NASA’s Psyche mission near the mission’s target, the metal asteroid Psyche. Image credit: NASA

In approximately 20 minutes, NASA’s Psyche spacecraft will lift off atop a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket from NASA Kennedy Space Center’s historic Launch Complex 39A in Florida on a first-of-its-kind mission for the agency.

Let’s look at some facts and figures that make the Psyche mission unique:

  • This will be the first time NASA has explored a world made not of rock and ice, but with large amounts of metal, as the mission seeks to understand a previously unexplored building block of planet formation: iron cores.
  • Psyche is the first primary NASA science mission to be launched on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket.
  • Psyche will be the eighth Falcon Heavy mission for SpaceX.
  • Psyche marks the 102nd full end-to-end mission for NASA’s Launch Services Program (LSP).
  • Psyche will be the second LSP science mission to launch from Launch Complex 39A (IXPE).
  • 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.
  • Psyche will be the seventh overall LSP science mission to fly on a SpaceX rocket (Jason-3, TESS, Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich, DART, IXPE, SWOT)
  • Psyche will be the fourth LSP mission to launch on a previously flown Falcon first stage (DART, IXPE, SWOT).
  • NASA will have the first optical communications demonstration from distances farther than the Moon, through DSOC (Deep Space Optical Communications), which will operate during the first two years of the roughly six-year journey to Psyche.
  • Just over 2.5 years into the mission, the Psyche spacecraft will fly by the planet Mars for a gravity assist.
  • The Psyche spacecraft will travel 2.2 billion miles on its journey to the asteroid Psyche.
  • Along with DSOC, other instruments carried on the Psyche spacecraft include two multispectral imagers, two magnetometers, and a gamma-ray and neutron spectrometer.
  • The Psyche spacecraft will arrive at the asteroid Psyche in 2029, after about six years of a solar electric-powered cruise.
  • The Psyche spacecraft will spend 26 months in orbit around the asteroid Psyche, mapping and studying Psyche’s properties.