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NASA Psyche will slingshot past Mars at extreme speed for rare metal asteroid mission

Science
Published on 14 May 2026
NASA Psyche will slingshot past Mars at extreme speed for rare metal asteroid mission

It will dash past Mars at over 12,000 mph

NASA’s Psyche spacecraft is making a high-speed practice swing past Mars to harness a gravity boost toward a rare metal asteroid. Named after the target, the robotic explorer will perform a slingshot at about 12,333 mph, snapping thousands of images along the way. The main rendezvous is planned for 2029, turning Mars flyby data into mission-critical prep.

  • Psyche uses a Mars gravity assist for extra speed
  • The flyby reaches about 12,333 mph during the slingshot
  • Thousands of images are captured as mission practice
  • The rare metal asteroid encounter is expected in 2029
Read the full story at Republic

This summarization was done by Beige for a story published on RepublicRepublic

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