Navigating Psyche: Launch, Initial Checkout, and Start of Cruise

The Psyche spacecraft launched on October 13, 2023, en route to the main-belt asteroid (16) Psyche. Presented here is a comprehensive navigation-centric summary of the activities from launch through the beginning of cruise thrusting, including assessment of launch injection accuracy, initial acquisition, thruster calibration activities, and the start of long-term cruise thrusting. As a low-thrust mission, thruster checkout activities were a critical part of the initial checkout phase. These activities are described here in detail, including the design, execution, and results. Various challenges are described, along with lessons learned that may be useful to future missions. As the first deep space mission to use Hall effect thrusters, and one of only a few deep-space missions to have used solar electric propulsion, the experiences of the Psyche navigation team provide a blueprint for future navigators on missions that utilize similar technologies.