Scrub through 5 real mission milestones to watch NASA's Psyche spacecraft launch, fly past Mars for a gravity assist, and arrive to orbit metal-rich asteroid 16 Psyche.
Each stop on the slider is a real, independently published mission milestone - not a smooth simulated flight or orbit. Drag to orbit and scroll or pinch to zoom on the scene above.
For a different real asteroid mission that deliberately impacts its target instead of orbiting it, see the DART Asteroid Deflection 3D Explorer. For a mission that lands and returns a sample instead of orbiting, see the Hayabusa2 Ryugu Sample Return 3D Explorer.
Psyche Metal Asteroid 3D Explorer
This browser explorer replays NASA's real Psyche mission to metal-rich asteroid 16 Psyche, one independently published milestone at a time, from its 2023 launch through its 2026 Mars flyby to its planned 2029 orbit arrival and 2031 mission end.
Psyche launched on a Falcon Heavy from NASA's Kennedy Space Center on 2023-10-13 and cruises on a solar-electric propulsion system - four SPT-140 Hall-effect thrusters drawing up to 4.5 kW, carrying about 922 kg of xenon propellant. On 2026-05-15 it flew past Mars at a closest approach of about 4,609 km (2,864 mi), a gravity assist that added about 1,000 mph to its speed and bent its orbital plane about 1 degree relative to the Sun, without spending any propellant. After a roughly six-year, about 2.2-billion-mile (3.6-billion-km) cruise, Psyche's own gravity is expected to capture the spacecraft in late July 2029, with science operations beginning in August 2029. Asteroid 16 Psyche measures about 278 by 232 by 164 km (mean diameter about 222 km) and rotates once roughly every 4.2 hours; its bulk density, about 3.98 g/cm3, is well below solid iron-nickel metal (about 8 g/cm3), one reason scientists think Psyche is a porous mix of metal and rock rather than one solid metal ball. Over at least 26 months, the spacecraft moves through a series of progressively different science orbits, mapping the asteroid's shape, gravity field, and surface composition, before the mission's planned end on 2031-10-31. These figures come from NASA and NASA Science mission updates, the JPL Psyche press kit, and the peer-reviewed studies Vernazza et al. 2021, Ferrais et al. 2020, and Shepard et al. 2017/2021 (via JPL's Small-Body Database and Wikipedia's cited "16 Psyche" figures).
- Milestone slider (5 stops) moves the spacecraft along a procedural cruise route, then into a stylized orbit ring around a noise-displaced Psyche body
- Each stop shows its real date, name, and mission fact
- A running table lists all 5 milestones at once, with the active one highlighted
- A reddish Mars marker sits along the cruise route at the flyby point
- The orbit-ring radius shrinks with each later milestone, standing in for the real multi-orbit science campaign
- Drag to orbit, scroll or pinch to zoom
- Runs fully in the browser with the vendored three.js engine - no account, no upload
| Milestone | Date | Detail |
|---|---|---|
| Launch from Kennedy Space Center | 2023-10-13 | Falcon Heavy, solar-electric propulsion |
| Mars gravity-assist flyby | 2026-05-15 | Closest approach about 4,609 km (2,864 mi) |
| Arrival - orbit capture at Psyche | 2029-08 | After a about 2.2-billion-mile cruise |
| Orbital science campaign | 2029-2031 | At least 26 months, progressively closer orbits |
| Planned mission end | 2031-10-31 | Per the JPL Psyche press kit |
For a different real asteroid mission that deliberately impacts its target rather than orbiting it, see the DART Asteroid Deflection 3D Explorer. For a mission that lands and returns a sample instead of orbiting, see the Hayabusa2 Ryugu Sample Return 3D Explorer. For the general structure of the belt these bodies come from, see the Asteroid Belt 3D Explorer.
Everything renders on your device with WebGL. The 3D engine loads once (about 0.7 MB) and is cached.
This is an educational approximation - Psyche's body shape and the spacecraft's cruise route and orbit rings are procedural, not a precise shape model or a physically simulated flight path or orbit, and the scene does not interpolate a continuous position between milestones or claim a live spacecraft feed. Each milestone's date and description are real and independently published by NASA, NASA Science, the JPL Psyche press kit, and the cited peer-reviewed studies.
Frequently Asked Questions
When did Psyche launch and fly past Mars?
It launched from NASA's Kennedy Space Center on 2023-10-13 and flew past Mars for a gravity assist on 2026-05-15, at a closest approach of about 4,609 km (2,864 mi).
Why did Psyche need a Mars flyby?
The flyby's gravity assist added about 1,000 mph to the spacecraft's speed and bent its orbital plane about 1 degree relative to the Sun - without spending any propellant - to line it up for its 2029 arrival at asteroid 16 Psyche.
How big is asteroid 16 Psyche, and is it solid metal?
Psyche measures about 278 by 232 by 164 km (mean diameter about 222 km). Its bulk density, about 3.98 g/cm3, is well below solid iron-nickel metal (about 8 g/cm3), so scientists think it is a porous mix of metal and rock, not one solid metal ball.
When does Psyche arrive and how long does it study the asteroid?
Asteroid gravity is expected to capture the spacecraft in late July 2029, with science operations beginning in August 2029. The mission plan calls for at least 26 months of study across progressively different orbits, ending 2031-10-31.
What does Psyche run on for propulsion?
A solar-electric propulsion system: four SPT-140 Hall-effect thrusters drawing up to 4.5 kW from its solar arrays, carrying about 922 kg of xenon propellant.
Is the on-screen Psyche shape and orbit to scale?
No - Psyche's body and the spacecraft's cruise route and orbit rings are procedural shapes for teaching purposes, not a precise shape model or a physically simulated flight path or orbit. Only the dates and figures cited in the facts panel are real published figures.
How is this different from the Hayabusa2 or DART mission explorers?
Hayabusa2 landed twice and returned a physical sample from a carbon-rich asteroid; DART deliberately impacted an asteroid to test planetary defense. This page instead replays Psyche's cruise-flyby-orbit timeline at a metal-rich asteroid that the spacecraft studies from orbit, never landing or impacting.
Where do these figures come from?
NASA and NASA Science mission updates, the JPL Psyche press kit, and the peer-reviewed studies Vernazza et al. 2021, Ferrais et al. 2020, and Shepard et al. 2017/2021 (via JPL's Small-Body Database and Wikipedia's cited figures).