NASA’s Psyche Spacecraft Reignites Thrusters After Switching to Backup Mode Written 23 June 2025
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Artist concept of the Psyche spacecraft. | Credit: NASA
Ars Technica reports, “A NASA spacecraft bound for an unexplored metal-rich asteroid has reignited its plasma thrusters, continuing its cruise deeper into the Solar System after switching to a backup fuel line. The $1.4 billion Psyche mission, built to explore an asteroid with the same name, has four electric thrusters fueled by xenon gas. Psyche’s solar-electric propulsion system is more fuel-efficient than conventional rocket thrusters, and it works by flowing xenon through an electromagnetic field, which ionizes the gas and expels the ions at high speed to produce thrust.”
Full Story (Ars Technica)