Tag: solar electric propulsion

July 15, 2025 / ESA

Europe’s first deep-space optical communication link

The European Space Agency (ESA) successfully established a transmission-reception optical link with NASA’s Deep Space Optical Communications (DSOC) experiment onboard its Psyche mission, located...

June 20, 2025 / NASA

NASA’s Psyche Spacecraft Resumes Full-Time Propulsion

NASA’s Psyche spacecraft resumed full thruster operations on June 16, and the propulsion system is performing as expected after mission engineers switched to a backup propellant line. They...

May 28, 2025 / NASA

NASA’s Psyche Spacecraft Using Backup Fuel Line

Engineers with NASA’s Psyche mission have developed a solution to address the decrease in fuel pressure they detected recently in the spacecraft’s propulsion system: They have successfully...

April 29, 2025 / NASA

NASA’s Psyche Mission Looking Into Propulsion System

Engineers with NASA’s Psyche mission are working to determine what caused a recent decrease in fuel pressure in the spacecraft’s propulsion system. The spacecraft relies on solar electric...

Two thrusters are visible beneath red round protective covers, after being integrated into the spacecraft.

September 20, 2021 / Jet Propulsion Laboratory

Solar Electric Propulsion Makes NASA’s Psyche Spacecraft Go

Futuristic electric thrusters emitting a cool blue glow will guide the Psyche spacecraft through deep space to a metal-rich asteroid. Read article

This image is of the main body of the spacecraft (the bus) in a factory space surrounded by engineers.

April 21, 2021 / Danya Gainor

A brain, a body and courage — but it’s not the Wizard of Oz

By Peter Lord (Maxar), David Oh (JPL), and Steven Scott (Maxar) as told to Danya Gainor As the Psyche spacecraft transitions into its ATLO (assembly, test, launch, and operations) phase, the...