This is an important milestone on the path to uncovering our solar system’s past.
The American Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) shared the latest news about the Lucy spacecraft. On November 1, 2023, the probe successfully completed its flyby of Dinkinesh, the first asteroid in the Lucy probe’s busy space tour.
Dinkinesh is a small asteroid in the main belt between Mars and Jupiter. In total, Lucy is planned to visit 10 asteroids over the next 12 years, including Dinkinesh.
In their blog, the NASA team said:
The operations team has confirmed that NASA’s Lucy spacecraft has called home after its encounter with the small main belt asteroid Dinkinesh. Based on the information received, the team determined that the spacecraft was in good health. The device was commanded to begin transmitting the data collected during the meeting.
Historical event: NASA’s Lucy probe met its first asteroid and has already “phoned home”
The Lucy mission was part of NASA’s ambitious attempt to uncover the secrets of our solar system’s past. While Lucy will also pass by a few relatively nearby asteroids, such as Dinkinesh, the probe’s main goal is to fly past several more distant Trojan asteroids orbiting the Sun near Jupiter. Scientists are interested in learning more about these asteroids because they are considered ancient relics of the solar system.
In this regard, Dinkinesh’s Lucy flyby can be considered a test flight. Many of the spacecraft’s instruments were tested during data collection during the first encounter with the asteroid, including a color thermal imager, a high-resolution camera and an infrared spectrometer. Transferring the data back to Earth will take about a week, and the team is “looking forward to seeing how the spacecraft performed during its first high-speed asteroid encounter flight test.” Lucy will then head toward Earth for a gravitational boost that will help it get closer to the second target asteroid, 52246 Donaldjohanson.
The tiny asteroid in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter was named Dinkinesh only in February 2023. Initially, Dinkinesh was not part of the plan for the 12-year tour. It was added to the route only in January 2023 to test the tracking system.
