lucy mission

NASA’s Lucy mission is the first spacecraft launched to explore the Trojan asteroids, a population of primitive asteroids orbiting in tandem with Jupiter. Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight CenterThe Lucy mission aims to study the Jupiter Trojan asteroids through a series of deep space maneuvers and an Earth gravity assist, setting the stage for encounters with asteroid Donaldjohanson and the Trojan asteroid Eurybates.After its successful first asteroid encounter in 2023, NASA’s Lucy mission has its sights firmly set on…

This image shows the “moonrise” of the satellite, now named Selam, as it emerges from behind asteroid Dinkinesh as seen by the Lucy Long-Range Reconnaissance Imager (L’LORRI), one of the most detailed images returned by NASA’s Lucy spacecraft during its flyby of the asteroid binary. This image was taken at 12:55 p.m. EDT (1655 UTC) on November 1, 2023, within a minute of closest approach, from a range of approximately 270 miles (430 km). Credit: NASA/Goddard/SwRI/Johns Hopkins APL/NOAO The satellite discovered during the…

NASA's Lucy mission has advanced further towards Asteroid Dinkinesh using precise maneuvers and now faces a communication blackout behind the Sun. Principal investigator Hal Levison leads the team's efforts, with mission management by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center and spacecraft construction by Lockheed Martin Space.Over the past month, the Lucy Mission spacecraft team has observed that Asteroid Dinkinesh becoming brighter as the spacecraft approaches, along with a consistent brightness variation indicating a…

It has been one and a half years since one of the most ambitious missions of NASA, Lucy, took off for the largest planet in our solar system. The unmanned spacecraft was sent on a 12-year journey to ten different asteroids with a focus towards the Jupiter trojans, a large group of asteroids that share the planet Jupiter's orbit around the Sun. This is the first time NASA has conducted a mission to study these far-off asteroids. And recently, it took pictures of its target asteroids for the first time ever.According to a…

In October 2021, the NASA spacecraft Lucy took off for its 12-year journey to ten different asteroids with a focus towards the Jupiter trojans, a large group of asteroids that share the planet Jupiter's orbit around the Sun. This is the first time NASA has conducted a mission to study these far-off asteroids. But before it reaches the trojans, first it will travel to two asteroids located in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. And as it races to meet the first asteroid in its path, astronomers have finally…

Astronomers working on US space agency NASA's Lucy mission may have spotted an undiscovered mini-moon orbiting an asteroid in the solar system. The mission is headed to study the Trojans — two groups of asteroids that orbit the Sun and are located on each side of Jupiter. While on its way to the space rocks, the Lucy probe observed its smallest asteroid target named Polymele, which was expected to pass in front of a star. As the asteroid passed, it blocked the star briefly allowing astronomers to observe the star…

In October 2021, NASA's Lucy spacecraft was successfully launched. However, just hours into Lucy's 12-year journey, the first-ever Trojan asteroids mission met an unexpected challenge. This resulted in a group of engineers gathering in Florida. Data showed that one of Lucy's solar arrays, which is intended to unfold like a hand fan and power the spacecraft's systems, hadn't fully expanded and locked. To troubleshoot the issue, teams from NASA and Lucy mission partners promptly gathered. Team members from Lockheed Martin's…

Space has always intrigued humans. While many exploration missions have hitherto focussed on our neighbours like the Moon and Mars, US space agency NASA is taking the game a notch higher with its latest launch. NASA is daring to send one of its spacecraft to a place in the dark alleys of the outer solar system that has never been visited before. Called Lucy, the $981-million mission (roughly Rs. 7,351 crores) will help astronomers study a set of asteroids orbiting the Sun near Jupiter.Jupiter's Trojan asteroids are two…