NASA's Psyche Solar Array Stowed for Launch

Technicians begin to retract one of the two solar arrays attached to NASA’s Psyche spacecraft inside the Astrotech Space Operations Facility near the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on July 25, 2023. The solar arrays, which were shipped from Maxar Technologies, in San Jose, California, are being stowed for launch. 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.

Technicians begin to retract one of the two solar arrays attached to NASA’s Psyche spacecraft inside the Astrotech Space Operations Facility near the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on July 25, 2023. The solar arrays, which were shipped from Maxar Technologies, in San Jose, California, are being stowed for launch. 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/Kim Shiflett
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 stowedsolar arraysspacecraft processing