NASA's Psyche spacecraft to slingshot past Mars toward 16 Psyche
Technology
NASA's Psyche spacecraft is about to pull off a cool space move on May 15, 2026: it'll swing by Mars and use the planet's gravity like a cosmic slingshot.
This "gravity assist" will boost Psyche's speed and set it on course for asteroid 16 Psyche, one of the most mysterious rocks in our solar system.
Asteroid Psyche contains iron and nickel
Asteroid 16 Psyche isn't your average space rock: it's packed with iron and nickel, and might even be the leftover core of an ancient protoplanet.
By studying its surface and magnetic field, scientists hope to learn how planets like Earth started out billions of years ago.
Basically, this mission could give us clues about our own planet's origins.