NASA’s Lucy spacecraft, on a 12-year journey, to encounter its first asteroid on Nov 1
NAsa mission
NASA's Lucy spacecraft is about to visit its first asteroid, Dinkinesh on November 1. The asteroid is located in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.
Lucy will pass within 430 kilometres of the small asteroid, Dinkinesh. The asteroid is less than 1 kilometre wide, small enough that it is barely visible from Earth, and will be seen for the first time, thanks to this flyby.
The tracking system that keeps the asteroid in the cameras' field of view will be tested during the journey. This system is crucial because of the small size of the asteroidsand the spacecraft's rapid speed as it passes by.
Why asteroid Dinkinesh?
Dinkinesh is located in the main asteroid belt, halfway between Mars and Jupiter's orbits andit is the ideal rock for Lucy to visit while travelling to the Trojansin order to ensure that all of her scientific equipment will be operational for the nine other asteroids it will observe during the primary portion of its mission.
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Trojans are asteroidswhich followJupiter’s orbit around the sun and are believed to be the remnants of our solar system's formation.
Lucymission
The Luci mission was selected by NASA in 2017 from 28 proposals that had to be ready for a 2021 launch. Following her October 2021 launch, Lucy has been travelling into the outer solar system at a speed of roughly 19.4 kilometres per second. The Trojan asteroids, which orbit the sun alongside Jupiter, are its primary research priorities, which helps us to better understand their composition, origins, and the history of our solar system.
Lucy's Dinkinesh mission
Lucy's terminal-tracking system will start tracking the target an hour before it gets close to Dinkinesh. The spacecraft will next start gathering information about Dinkinesh using its colour imager and infrared spectrometer, around eight minutes before close approach.
Lucy will start gathering data with its thermal-infrared camera (L'TES) and high-resolution camera (L'LORRI) as soon as it gets near enough to the asteroid. Dinkinesh will be continuously imaged and tracked for about an hour more.