NASA's Psyche probe uses Mars flyby to test instruments and gain speed boost
During a May 2026 flyby of Mars, NASA's Psyche spacecraft tested its scientific instruments and used the planet's gravity for a velocity boost, confirming sensor performance ahead of its 2029 mission to asteroid 16 Psyche.
NASA's Psyche spacecraft performed a flyby of Mars in May 2026, serving both as a gravity assist and an opportunity to validate its onboard instruments on a real planetary target. The maneuver provided a speed boost that will aid the probe’s journey to asteroid 16 Psyche, where it is scheduled to enter orbit in 2029.
"The mission’s imager, magnetometer, and gamma-ray and neutron spectrometer teams worked overtime to make full use of this planetary encounter, and all instruments delivered great results," said Lindy Elkins-Tanton, the mission’s principal investigator at Arizona State University.
During the encounter, the gamma-ray and neutron spectrometer recorded a flow of escaping neutrons, confirming its functionality despite being too distant to detect gamma rays. The magnetometer measured a sharp increase in magnetic field strength as Psyche crossed Mars’s bow shock, demonstrating its ability to capture rapid field fluctuations. The multispectral imager captured a time-lapse sequence of the approach and departure, as well as detailed images of the south polar cap and the double-ringed Huygens crater.
Scientists noted that while major new discoveries about Mars were unlikely given the planet’s extensive study, the data provided a complementary perspective useful for future research. The flyby also aligns with ongoing studies of Mars’s magnetic history, including laboratory simulations that suggest changes in the planet’s core composition may have halted its magnetic dynamo.
The successful test of Psyche’s systems supports expectations that the spacecraft will be able to analyze the metal-rich asteroid—thought to be the exposed core of a protoplanet—when it arrives in 2029.