PIA24326: Power On: Psyche Spacecraft
Technicians power on the main body of NASA's Psyche spacecraft, called the Solar Electric Propulsion (SEP) Chassis, at Maxar Technologies in Palo Alto, California, in November 2020.
 Target Name:  Asteroid
 Mission:  Psyche 
 Spacecraft:  Psyche
 Product Size:  1650 x 1101 pixels (w x h) 
 Produced By:  Maxar Technologies 
 Full-Res TIFF:  PIA24326.tif (5.452 MB)
 Full-Res JPEG:  PIA24326.jpg (213.5 kB)  

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Original Caption Released with Image:

In this photo, taken in November 2020, technicians power on the main body of NASA's Psyche spacecraft — called the Solar Electric Propulsion (SEP) Chassis — for the first time, in a clean room at Maxar Technologies in Palo Alto, California.

Maxar will deliver the SEP Chassis to NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California in spring of 2021.

Set to launch in August 2022, Psyche will investigate the composition of a metal-rich asteroid of the same name that lies in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. The spacecraft will arrive in early 2026 and orbit the asteroid for nearly two years.

Arizona State University in Tempe leads the mission. JPL is responsible for the mission's overall management, system engineering, integration and test, and mission operations. For more information about NASA's Psyche mission go to: http://www.nasa.gov/psyche or https://psyche.asu.edu/

Image Credit:
Maxar Technologies

Image Addition Date:
2021-02-02