A NASA team unboxed, lifted, and moved solar arrays for the agency’s Psyche spacecraft inside the Astrotech Space Operations Facility near the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on July 18, 2023. Part of the launch preparation is installing the solar panels on the spacecraft. The solar arrays were shipped from Maxar Technologies, in San, Jose, California. They are part of the solar electric propulsion system, provided by Maxar, that will power the spacecraft on its journey to explore a metal-rich asteroid. 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.
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NASA ID
KSC-20230718-MH-CSH01-0001-Psyche_Solar_Array_Unboxing_Astrotech_WON-3334345
Date Created
July 18, 2023
Center
KSC
Media Type
video
Photographer
NASA/Cory S Huston
Location
Astrotech
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