NASA Shares Timelapse of Psyche Spacecraft Mars Flyby Images

NASA shared a timelapse video on Friday of images captured by the Psyche spacecraft during its Mars flyby, Engadget reported. The spacecraft approached Mars on May 2 and reached its closest point on May 15. It recorded thousands of images with its multispectral imager throughout the encounter.

The timelapse shows the crescent Mars on arrival, detailed surface features, and the icy south pole as the spacecraft departed. The maneuver delivered a speed boost, altered the trajectory toward the asteroid Psyche, and conserved propellant for the remainder of the journey.

"The imager performed brilliantly, delivering some rarely seen views of the red planet," said Jim Bell, the Psyche imager instrument lead at Arizona State University.

Bell added that the images also allowed full testing of calibration and sensitivity to scattered light, including detection of the Martian moons Phobos and Deimos from a distance. Psyche is scheduled to reach the asteroid it is named after in 2029.