NASA’s Psyche spacecraft used Mars as a free slingshot on 15 May 2026, gaining 1,000 miles per hour in speed and tilting its orbital plane by one degree, all without firing a thruster, to put it on course for a metal world that may be a planet’s exposed iron core

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On 15 May 2026, NASA’s Psyche spacecraft passed within 2,864 miles, or 4,609 kilometres, of Mars and left the encounter on a better path than the one it arrived on. There was no large engine burn to do it. No dramatic use of onboard propellant. Instead, Psyche used Mars itself as part of the flight [...] The post NASA’s Psyche spacecraft used Mars as a free slingshot on 15 May 2026, gaining 1,000 miles per hour in speed and tilting its orbital plane by one degree, all without firing a thruster, to put it on course for a metal world that may be a planet’s exposed iron core appeared first on Space Daily .