NASA’s Sci-Fi Thrusters: Psyche’s Electric Blue Journey to the Asteroid Belt

This artist’s concept depicts NASA’s Psyche spacecraft headed to the metal-rich asteroid Psyche in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. The spacecraft launched in October 2023 and will arrive at its destination in 2029. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU’s Psyche spacecraft is on course to explore an asteroid by 2029, using innovative solar-powered electric thrusters for deep space travel.

An electric Hall thruster, identical to those that will be used to propel NASA’s Psyche spacecraft, undergoes testing at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The blue glow is produced by the xenon propellant, a neutral gas used in car headlights and plasma TVs. Credit: NASA/JPL-CaltechThe orbiter is now more than 190 million miles away and moving at a clip of 23 miles per second , relative to Earth. That’s about 84,000 mph .

“Until this point, we have been powering on and checking out the various pieces of equipment needed to complete the mission, and we can report they are working beautifully,” said Henry Stone, Psyche project manager at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, which manages the mission. “Now we are on our way and looking forward to an upcoming close flyby of Mars.”

In the meantime, the Deep Space Optical Communications technology demonstration aboard the spacecraft will keep on testing its mettle. The experiment already surpassed expectations when, in April, itfrom over 140 million miles away at a rate of 267 megabits per second to a downlink station on Earth — a bit rate comparable to broadband internet download speeds.

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NASA's Psyche fires up its sci-fi-worthy thrustersNASA's Psyche spacecraft passed its six-month checkup with a clean bill of health, and there's no holding back now. Navigators are firing its futuristic-looking electric thrusters, which emit a blue glow, nearly nonstop as the orbiter zips farther into deep space.
ذریعہ: physorg_com - 🏆 388. / 55 مزید پڑھ »

Why the Psyche spacecraft’s futuristic electric thrusters glow blueNASA's Psyche mission is on its way to visit a metal asteroid between Mars and Jupiter, and it recently kicked on its new blue-glowing electric thrusters.
ذریعہ: DigitalTrends - 🏆 95. / 65 مزید پڑھ »