# NASA's Psyche Spacecraft Aces Mars Flyby, Delivers Time-Lapse and Instrument Data Ahead of 2029 Asteroid Encounter

*2026-07-29 06:01 UTC · Science · 1 min read*

> NASA's Psyche spacecraft used a Mars gravity assist to validate its instruments and speed toward a 2029 rendezvous with a metal-rich asteroid.

NASA's Psyche spacecraft used a gravity-assist flyby of Mars on May 15 to bend its trajectory toward the metal-rich asteroid Psyche, passing just 2,864 miles (4,609 km) above the planet's surface. The maneuver both boosted the probe's speed and gave mission scientists a rare chance to test its instruments in a real planetary environment.

During the pass, Psyche's multispectral imager captured a time-lapse video and an enhanced-color mosaic showing windblown craters, the south polar ice cap, and the large double-ringed Huygens crater. The spacecraft's magnetometer and gamma-ray/neutron spectrometer also gathered data, all of which matched existing knowledge of Mars — validating the instruments ahead of the mission's real target.

Launched in 2023, Psyche is now on course to reach its namesake asteroid — a metal-rich body in the belt between Mars and Jupiter — in summer 2029, where it will study a world scientists believe may be a remnant planetary core.

## Sources

- [jpl.nasa.gov](https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/nasas-psyche-mission-delivers-mars-flyby-data-time-lapse-video/)
- [sciencedaily.com](https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/07/260727214612.htm)

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TechTools News · https://techtools.cz/tools/news/article/2092-nasa-s-psyche-spacecraft-aces-mars-flyby-delivers-time-lapse-and-instrument
Česká verze: https://techtools.cz/tools/news/clanek/2165-sonda-psyche-zvladla-prulet-kolem-marsu-prinesla-time-lapse-video-a-data-z