HomeScience and TechnologyScience and TechnologyVarietyFriday, November 3, 2023 – 2:45 p.m.
The Lucy spacecraft has successfully performed its first flyby of the “Dinki” asteroid, one of the small space rocks in the main belt between Mars and Jupiter. This achievement marks an important start in Lucy’s path, as she will have to visit 10 different asteroids over the next 12 years.
NASA confirmed the success of the flight and said that the team issued instructions to the vehicle to begin the process of linking the data collected during the encounter. This achievement comes as part of NASA’s efforts to understand the past of our solar system by exploring the distant Trojan asteroids. Although Lucy’s mission also includes visiting some relatively nearby asteroids, her main goal is to fly by the Trojan asteroids orbiting the Sun alongside Jupiter. These asteroids represent a large bundle of rock bound by the gravitational forces of a massive asteroid.
Scientists are interested in studying these asteroids because they are believed to carry ancient traces of our solar system. Several instruments were used on the Lucy spacecraft to collect data on Dinky, including a color imager, a high-resolution camera and an infrared spectrometer.
After returning to Earth, Lucy will move towards its next target, asteroid 52246 Donald Johansson, named after the American paleontologist Donald Johansson. These achievements represent an important step towards a deeper understanding of space objects and their influence on the formation of our solar system.
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