NASA's Psyche switches to its backup propellant line after a valve fault halts thrusting

NASA/Psyche

Engineers paused Psyche's four electric thrusters in early April 2025 after a drop in xenon pressure, and traced it to a part inside one valve blocking the flow. The spacecraft switched to an identical backup propellant line, which is working as expected.

• The backup line's valve will be kept open to avoid a repeat.
• Thrusting was set to resume by mid-June 2025.
• No change to the August 2029 arrival at the asteroid.