NASA's Psyche Mission Captured an Eerie Timelapse of Its Flyby of Mars - ScienceAlert

NASA's Psyche spacecraft completed its flyby of Mars on May 15, 2026, passing roughly 4,600 kilometers (2,800 miles) from the planet's surface while traveling at more than 19,848 kilometers (12,000 miles) per hour, capturing a striking timelapse and images of Mars as a thin nighttime crescent.
The mission is bound for a metal asteroid, described by astronomers as the first exploration of "a world made not of rock or ice, but of metal," with a rendezvous planned for the summer of 2029.
The flyby served as a "dress rehearsal," allowing the team to calibrate the spacecraft's sensors and study Mars' bow shock, which diverts particles around the planet.
Psyche also imaged Mars' water-ice-rich south polar cap, which spans about 700 kilometers, and the double-ringed Huygens crater, processing the crescent Mars view into natural color using red, green, and blue data from its multispectral imager.
Using Mars as a gravitational slingshot, the spacecraft gained speed without spending its xenon propellant by borrowing some of the planet's orbital energy, according to navigation lead Don Han, who confirmed a boost of about 1,000 miles per hour and a shift of roughly 1 degree in its orbital plane relative to the Sun.
Project manager Bob Mase said the years-in-the-making gravity assist put Psyche on exactly the trajectory needed to reach the asteroid, adding that the spacecraft is in good condition and on schedule to resume thrusting with its solar-electric propulsion system.