NASA’s Psyche spacecraft hits a speed bump on the way to a metal asteroid

Engineers and technicians work on deploying and stowing stationary plasma thrusters on NASA's Psyche spacecraft before its launch in 2023. Two plasma engines are visible here mounted to a dual-axis positioning mechanism, which vectors their thrust in space. Some of Psyche's xenon fuel tanks are visible inside the main body of the spacecraft. Credit: NASA

NASA's Psyche spacecraft, located nearly 150 million miles from Earth on the way to an unexplored metal asteroid, has stopped firing its engines after detecting a problem in its propulsion system.

NASA published an update Tuesday revealing that the robotic spacecraft shut off its plasma thrusters earlier this month. The news wasn't widely shared until Wednesday, when NASA science chief Nicky Fox posted it on X.

"Engineers with NASA’s Psyche mission are working to determine what caused a recent decrease in fuel pressure in the spacecraft’s propulsion system," the ...