Psyche Spacecraft Move to Building 9

NASA’s Psyche Spacecraft moved to Building 9 at Astrotech Space Operations Facility near the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on August 14, 2023. This move will allow a team of technicians and engineers to load the spacecraft with xenon gas. Psyche’s solar electric propulsion system will use its large solar panels to create electric and magnetic fields to accelerate and expel charged xenon atoms, or ions, to create thrust. 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.