When successfully launched, NASA’s Psyche spacecraft will require an innovative propulsion system to power itself through deep space. Rather than rocket fuel, its solar electric propulsion is not only efficient, but provides the force that the spacecraft needs to journey all the way to the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, eventually reaching the metal-rich asteroid also called Psyche.
Sure, the Falcon Heavy it rides on is powered by large chemical rocket engines, but once it escapes Earth’s gravity, the spacecraft separates from the launch vehicle, relying solely on solar electric propulsion. This system consists of large solar arrays that convert sunlight into electricity, providing the power source for the spacecraft’s four Hall thrusters. As for propellant, Psyche is going to use tanks full of xenon, the same neutral gas found in car headlights. The thrusters will then use electromagnetic fields to accelerate and expel charged atoms, or ions, of that xenon, resulting in thrust, while emitting blue beams of ionized gas. After traveling around 1.5 billion miles over 3.5-years, it will finally reach the asteroid worth an estimated $700-quintillion.
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Even in the beginning, when we were first designing the mission in 2012, we were talking about solar electric propulsion as part of the plan. Without it, we wouldn’t have the Psyche mission. And it’s become part of the character of the mission. It takes a specialized team to calculate trajectories and orbits using solar electric propulsion,” said Lindy Elkins-Tanton from Arizona State University, principal investigator leading the mission.
