Despite one of the two solar wings on the spacecraft remaining loose, it is believed to be stable enough for the entire mission.
NASA's Lucy spacecraft has successfully completed its first flyby of an asteroid named Dinkinesh.
The mission is significant as it is the farthest-flung solar-powered spacecraft and the first to explore seven Trojan asteroids that share an orbital path with Jupiter.
NASA's Lucy spacecraft, launched in October 2021, has successfully completed its first flyby of an asteroid named Dinkinesh, located in the main belt between Mars and Jupiter. This marks the beginning of Lucy's 12-year mission to study ten asteroids, including seven Trojan asteroids that share an orbital path with Jupiter. The mission is significant as it is the farthest-flung solar-powered spacecraft and the first to explore these Trojan asteroids.
The flyby of Dinkinesh served as a crucial test for Lucy's instruments, including a color imager, high-resolution camera, and infrared spectrometer. The spacecraft came within 270 miles of Dinkinesh, conducting a dry run to test its instruments for the larger and more alluring asteroids that lie ahead. The data gathered during the encounter is being downlinked for analysis.
Despite one of the two solar wings on the spacecraft remaining loose, it is believed to be stable enough for the entire mission. The next target for Lucy is asteroid 52246 Donaldjohanson. The mission's principal investigator, Hal Levison, and the deputy principal investigator, Simone Marchi, have been updating the scientific community on the progress of the mission.
The University of Colorado Boulder's Fiske Planetarium hosted a presentation about NASA's Lucy mission.
The principal investigator for the NASA mission, Hal Levison, and the deputy principal investigator, Simone Marchi, joined Fiske Planetarium to update the Boulder community.
The mission is significant as it is the farthest-flung solar-powered spacecraft and the first to explore seven Trojan asteroids that share an orbital path with Jupiter.