Keith Cooper is a freelance science journalist and editor in the United Kingdom, and has a degree in physics and astrophysics from the University of Manchester.
, on October 13, 2023 gave it enough of an initial boost to take it across more than 190 million miles of space, which is beyond the orbit of
Now, however, its onboard ion engines have taken over the job of acceleration. They work by converting sunlight into electricity via the spacecraft's solar arrays that form its"wings." The resulting electrical current powers an electromagnetic field that accelerates and expels ions, which are charged particles, of xenon gas.
The spacecraft's ion engines are currently firing almost constantly and taking it forward, but as part of Psyche's journey to its eponymous asteroid, it will loop back around and encounter Mars in May 2026. On approaching the Red Planet, Psyche will shut down its ion engines and allow itself to get caught in Martian gravity and be slingshot around the planet.
He's the author of"The Contact Paradox: Challenging Our Assumptions in the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence" and has written articles on astronomy, space, physics and astrobiology for a multitude of magazines and websites.
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