On May 15, NASA’s Psyche spacecraft let physics do the work - slingshotting past Mars to pick-up a 1,000 mph boost.
The Deep Space Network tracked every Doppler shift in real time - and while the spacecraft was there, its cameras captured something rare: Mars as a glowing crescent, plus the highest-resolution Psyche view yet of the planet’s icy south polar cap.
Next stop: the metal-rich asteroid Psyche, arriving summer 2029.
Image: NASA