NASA’s Sci-Fi Thrusters: Psyche’s Electric Blue Journey to the Asteroid Belt

NASA’s Psyche spacecraft is on course to explore an asteroid by 2029, using innovative solar-powered electric thrusters for deep space travel. It is already beyond the distance of Mars and is using ion propulsion to accelerate toward a metal-rich asteroid, where it will orbit and collect science data.

NASA’s Psyche spacecraft passed its six-month checkup with a clean bill of health, and there’s no holding back now. Navigators are firing its futuristic-looking electric thrusters, which emit a blue glow, nearly nonstop as the orbiter zips farther into deep space.