NASA's Psyche captures images of Earth and the Moon from 180 million miles away
Since its launch in October 2023, NASA’s Psyche spacecraft has been on course for asteroid Psyche. From what we know, Asteroid Psyche is likely made of a mixture of rock and metal — quite similar to Earth’s makeup. Hence, by studying this asteroid, scientists hope to understand how planets like Earth formed.
But for Psyche’s mission to be successful, testing and calibrating its imager instrument is crucial. Given that asteroid Psyche reflects the Sun’s light, Psyche had to try to capture an object that also reflects the light from the Sun. Psyche had earlier taken images of Jupiter and Mars, both of which are redder than Earth.
On July 20 and 23, Psyche calibrated its imager instrument by capturing Earth and its moon. The spacecraft’s imager comprises twin cameras. These cameras have filters and telescopic lenses that can take images of distant objects in different spectra of light.
The team will continue testing the imagers. Saturn or Vesta is the likely target for the next test. The much bigger milestone for the Psyche spacecraft, though, is its flyby of Mars next year. Mars’ gravity will act as a slingshot to give the spacecraft the boost it needs to be able to arrive at asteroid Psyche in 2029.
