[9][10] Psyche was submitted by Lindy Elkins-Tanton, a principal investigator at Arizona State University, as part of a call for proposals for NASA's Discovery Program that closed in February 2015.

[1] An independent review of the delays at JPL reported in November 2022 found understaffing, insufficient planning, and communications issues among engineers and with management.

[19] An update in May 2024 reported the spacecraft was in good health and on track to complete its mission on the planned timeline along with commencing fire of its xenon thrusters.

[20] 16 Psyche is the heaviest known M-type asteroid with a mean diameter of 220 kilometres (140 mi), and may be an exposed iron core of a protoplanet,[21] the remnant of a violent collision with another object that stripped off its mantle and crust.

[24] The historical asteroid symbol for Psyche, a butterfly's wing topped by a star (), may have influenced the mission insignia.

[25] The Psyche spacecraft is designed with solar electric propulsion,[26][27] and the scientific payload includes a multispectral imager, a magnetometer, and a gamma-ray spectrometer.

The spacecraft was built by NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in collaboration with SSL (formerly Space Systems/Loral) and Arizona State University.

[30] In May 2020, it was announced that the Falcon Heavy carrying Psyche would include two smallsat secondary payloads to study the Martian atmosphere and binary asteroids, named EscaPADE (Escape and Plasma Acceleration and Dynamics Explorers) and Janus respectively,[13] but in September 2020, the EscaPADE Mars atmosphere probe was removed from the plan.

The instrument is mounted on a 6-foot (1.8 m) boom to distance the sensors from background radiation created by energetic particles interacting with the spacecraft and to provide an unobstructed field of view.

It is composed of two identical high-sensitivity magnetic field sensors located at the middle and outer end of a 6-foot (1.8 m) boom.

[42] The SPT-140 (SPT stands for Stationary Plasma Thruster) is a production line commercial propulsion system[3] that was invented in the USSR by OKB Fakel and developed by NASA's Glenn Research Center, Space Systems/Loral, and Pratt & Whitney since the late 1980s.

[41][3] Using solar electric thrusters will allow the spacecraft to arrive at 16 Psyche (located 3.3 astronomical units from Earth) much faster, while consuming less than 10% of the propellant it would need using conventional chemical propulsion.

The DSOC technology demonstration will begin shortly after launch and continue as the spacecraft travels from Earth to its gravity-assist flyby of Mars.

[53][54] The Discovery program solicitation offered mission projects an extra $30 M if they would host and test the 25 kilograms (55 lb) DSOC unit, which needs about 75 Watts.

[54] The test-runs of the laser equipment are planned to occur over distances of 0.1 to 2.5 astronomical units (AU) on the outward-bound probe.

On the night of December 4, the project demonstrated downlink bit rates of 62.5 Mbit/s, 100 Mbit/s, and 267 Mbit/s, which is comparable to broadband internet download speeds.

The flight hardware is fitted with a sunshade and protrudes from the side of the spacecraft, making it one of Psyche's easily identifiable features.

[7] Psyche will conduct a gravity assist maneuver at Mars in 2026, which will position the spacecraft for arrival at the target asteroid in August 2029.

The spacecraft will then use its electric propulsion system to position itself to be captured by the asteroid's gravity, which is expected to occur in late July 2029.

It will then descend to Orbit B, set at 303 km (188 mi) altitude for 92 days, for topography and magnetic field characterization.

After that it will ascend to Orbit C at 190 km (120 mi) altitude for 100 days to perform gravity investigations and continue magnetic field observations.

The TVAC testing was conducted inside the 85- by 25-foot vacuum chamber at JPL's facility in Southern California, which replicates the lack of air in space.

Vibration tests of the spacecraft by scientists and engineers ensure it can survive the extreme conditions of the rocket launch.

The sound of the launch can be so violent that it can damage the hardware, so intense acoustic testing was performed to ensure mission success.