Mars flyby captures spectacular, unique views of the red planet | CNN

A NASA spacecraft bound for an unusual metallic asteroid recently made a strategic flyby of Mars — and its cameras captured a rare perspective of the red planet along the way. The Psyche mission, launched in October 2023, is heading for Asteroid 16 Psyche in the outer part of the main asteroid belt between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. The space rock has never been seen up close, but ground and space-based telescope observations reveal that it has an intriguing, reflective metal surface. Scientists suspect the large metallic asteroid could be the exposed core of an early planetary building block, like the innermost layers of planets such as Earth, Mars, Mercury and Venus. But the journey to reach the space rock is a long one. The spacecraft will travel 2.2 billion miles (3.6 billion kilometers), with an estimated arrival at Psyche in 2029. To save propellant, boost the spacecraft’s solar-electric propulsion system and adjust its trajectory, Psyche’s mission planners included a Mars flyby during the journey. As the spacecraft flew around the red planet on May 15, Mars’ gravitational pull acted like a natural slingshot, increasing Psyche’s speed and setting it on a direct