NASA's asteroid-bound Psyche mission is headed for an encounter with Mars today (May 15). The spacecraft, which is on its way to an asteroid also called Psyche, will come within around 2,800 miles (4,500 kilometers) of the Red Planet during the flyby.
This flyby aims to utilize the gravity of Mars to give Psyche a boost to its already impressive speed of 12,333 miles per hour (19,848 kph). This will enable the spacecraft to adjust its trajectory towards the 173-mile-wide (280 km) metal-rich asteroid 16 Psyche (or just Psyche), which sits in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.
