Psyche Mission Launch and Solar Array Deployment Phase

Abstract

“Psyche: Journey to a Metal World” is a NASA Discovery class mission lead by principal investigator Dr. Lindy Elkins-Tanton of Arizona State University. The spacecraft is propelled by a solar electric propulsion chassis based on the Maxar 1300-series GEO communications satellites and is a joint collaboration between the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Maxar Technologies. The Psyche spacecraft hosts a number of scientific payloads (magnetometer, multispectral imager, gamma ray and neutron spectrometer) and plans to rendezvous with the large metal asteroid (16) Psyche. A portion of the cruise also includes an advanced technology demonstration of the Deep Space Optical Communications payload. After encountering a launch delay in 2022, the project is targeting a launch period open in October 2023 [1]. The Psyche spacecraft completed its first round of assembly, test, and launch operations in September 2022. This paper focuses on the preparation and implementation of the launch and solar array deployment phase which includes the countdown at Cape Canaveral through the autonomous deployment of the solar arrays and delivery of the spacecraft to a safe state. The verification and validation campaign for this phase includes extensive nominal and off nominal testing that was performed to ensure the successful completion of these events. The various processes that were implemented to ensure robustness to various contingencies and anomalies and compatibility with a variety of launch periods is also discussed. Finally, this paper also summarizes the impact of the replanning to support a 2023 launch opportunity.