The Galaxy

NASA’s Lucy Mission Extends its Solar Arrays NASA’s Lucy mission tests the deployment of its solar arrays in the thermal vacuum chamber at Lockheed Martin Space in Littleton, Colorado. Each of the two circular arrays is nearly 24 feet (7.3 m) wide. These arrays will power Lucy on its 12-year odyssey through the Jupiter Trojan asteroids, breaking records for a solar powered mission by traveling 530 million miles (853 million km) from the Sun. These large arrays will capture the sunlight needed to power the spacecraft as it travels through deep space. More: nasa.gov/lucy Music: "CSI," Anthony Edward Phillips, Atmosphere Music, Ltd. Video credit: Copyright Lockheed Martin, 2021; used with permission

OSIRIS-REx Slings Orbital Web Around Asteroid to Capture Sample | 4K 101955 Bennu is one of Earth’s closest planetary neighbors – an asteroid roughly the height of a skyscraper, and since late 2018, the place that NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission has called home. When OSIRIS-REx arrived on Dec. 3, 2018, it began wrapping Bennu in a complex web of observations. OSIRIS-REx departs Bennu on May 10, 2021, on a return voyage to Earth, bringing with it over 60 grams of sample collected from the asteroid. This narrated video presents the mission’s complete trajectory during its time at Bennu. More: https://nasa.gov/osiris-rex Music: “Visionary” by Andy Blythe and Marten Joustra; “Babel” by Max Cameron Concors, via Universal Production Music Data provided by: NASA/University of Arizona/CSA/York University/Open University/MDA Video credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center/Scientific Visualization Studio Dan Gallagher (USRA): Producer Kel Elkins (USRA): Producer Kel Elkins (USRA): Lead Data Visualizer Dan Gallagher (USRA): Narrator Michael Moreau (NASA/GSFC): Deputy Project Manager Dante Lauretta (The University of Arizona): Principal Investigator Kenny Getzandanner (NASA/GSFC): Engineer This video can be shared and downloaded at https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/13856 . Some individual imagery may have been obtained through permission and may not be excised or remixed in other products. Specific details

NASA Psyche Mission: Charting a Metallic World In this artist’s rendition, we explore a metallic world named Psyche, an asteroid that offers a unique window into the building blocks of planet formation. The NASA Psyche mission launches in 2023 and will arrive at the asteroid Psyche, which orbits the Sun between Mars and Jupiter, in 2026. The spacecraft, also named Psyche, will spend 21 months orbiting the asteroid, mapping it and studying its properties. The mission is led by Principal Investigator Lindy Elkins-Tanton of Arizona State University. NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory is responsible for the mission’s overall management, system engineering, integration and test, and mission operations. Maxar Technologies is providing a high-power solar electric propulsion spacecraft chassis.