Lucy's mission is 12 years old to explore the strange asteroids, which are leaders and follow Jupiter while they orbit the sun. While it traveled to these planets. These Trojan is preparing for the second stop where the main belt approached the mysterious space stone to practice for the main activities.
NASA Lucy spacecraft will carry out a small planet flying belt. Donaldjohanson on April 20 at 13:51 hrs. ET when it is near 596 miles (960 kilometers) from the goal. This is the second confrontation of Lucy and the asteroid. But it was more complicated than the first flight, with NASA explained that it was “Covering sets that are comprehensive for Lucy's main mission” News–
Lucy first Place his robot's eyes at Donaldjohanson In February And followed the asteroid in the past two months to prepare for flying Donaldjohanson Name according to the discoverer of the fossil. Lucy Hominid is a carbon asteroid with a width of 2.5 miles (4 km). The asteroid is a piece of clash that occurred about 150 million years ago, making it one of the youngest asteroids ever.
Although not the planet But it is located in a convenient point for Lucy to swing back and forth on the way to the upcoming Jovian Flyby system, which will allow the Lucy's system to test and observe using all three science tools of the spacecraft.
The spacecraft will adjust the direction to follow the asteroid for about 30 minutes before approaching. During that time, Lucy's high antenna, which is used to communicate with the ground control, will be turned back on the suspension communication world. For the rest of the Flyby Lucy will rotate itself using a terminal tracking system to Donaldjohanson is in the view. Lucy will use science tools to proceed with the observation of the asteroid that is similar to what it will work when Trojan.
About 40 seconds before being as close to the asteroid, Lucy stopped tracking. Donaldjohanson To protect the delicate tools from violent sunlight “If you are sitting on the asteroid that is watching the spacecraft, Lucy is approaching, you will have to protect your eyes to stare at the sun while waiting for Lucy to emerge from the bright light after the Lucy via the asteroid. The object that illuminates with 25 sunlight is diminished on the planet. Therefore, looking at the sun can damage our camera. “
After the closest way, the spacecraft will adjust the sun to the sun back to the sun. It will establish a communication with the world for about an hour after the flight, hoping to receive all valuable information collected. However, the team must be patient when considering how far Lucy came from the world, so the process will take several days.
“One of the strange things that will wrap your brain with a deep space mission is the slow speed of light,” Vincent said. “Lucy is 12.5 minutes from Earth, which means that it takes a long time for any signal that we send to the spacecraft, then takes 12.5 minutes before we get Lucy's reply to us.
Lucy launched in October 2021 and pulled the fly of the asteroids smaller in November 2022. The first planet of the mission was won more than expected at first. Meeting a letter revealing binary couple By discovering a small satellite closely orbit
The main interest of the mission is the study of the planets, Trojan, which is a group of stones that lead and follow Jupiter while they orbit the sun. Lucy will start a planetary tour in the year 2027, visiting EURYBATES and Queta, binary partners, followed by Polymele and binary leucus, ORUS and binary Patroclus and Menotius.
“All asteroids have different stories to tell and these stories continue to draw the history of our solar systems.” Tom Sathler, scientist, Lucy Mission Project at NASA SARS in the statement. “The fact that each asteroid that we visit our Socials Off means that we start to understand the depth and wealth of history. Donaldjohanson There will be an interesting story and I fully expect to be surprised. “