NASA's Psyche Solar Array Integration

A NASA team member prepares the agency’s Psyche spacecraft for integration with its twin solar arrays inside the Astrotech Space Operations Facility near the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on July 20, 2023. The solar arrays were shipped from Maxar Technologies, in San Jose, California. They are part of the solar electric propulsion system, provided by Maxar, that will power the spacecraft on its journey to explore a metal-rich asteroid. Psyche will launch atop a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket from Launch Complex 39A at Kennedy. Launch is targeted for Oct. 5, 2023. Riding with Psyche is a pioneering technology demonstration, NASA’s Deep Space Optical Communications (DSOC) experiment.

A NASA team member prepares the agency’s Psyche spacecraft for integration with its twin solar arrays inside the Astrotech Space Operations Facility near the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on July 20, 2023. The solar arrays were shipped from Maxar Technologies, in San Jose, California. They are part of the solar electric propulsion system, provided by Maxar, that will power the spacecraft on its journey to explore a metal-rich asteroid. Psyche will launch atop a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket from Launch Complex 39A at Kennedy. Launch is targeted for Oct. 5, 2023. Riding with Psyche is a pioneering technology demonstration, NASA’s Deep Space Optical Communications (DSOC) experiment.

Photographer NASA/Isaac Watson
Album SpaceX_Psyche
Location Astrotech
ASUATLOArizona State UniversityAssemblyAstrotechDSOCDeep Space Optical CommunicationFalcon HeavyJPLJet Propulsion LabKSCKennedy Space CenterLSPLaunch Services ProgramMaxarNASANational Aeronautical and Space AdministrationPsycheRocketSpaceXSpacecraftTestand Launch Operationsasteroidclean roomlaunch processingmetal-richsolar array integrationsolar array walkoutsolar arraysspacecraft processing