As 2022 begins, the ASU (Arizona State University)-led team for the NASA Psyche spacecraft is preparing to conduct thermal vacuum testing in preparation for launch. Psyche is a first-of-a-kind mission set to orbit an M-Type asteroid, scheduled to launch on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy booster this August.
Following a three-and-a-half-year transit through the inner solar system, Psyche will enter into orbit of the main asteroid belt object, 16 Psyche. Its sister mission, Lucy, is continuing to its first flyby on Earth despite a solar array issue; both missions operate under NASA’s Discovery program.