The NASA Lucy probe is a few hours after making its second close encounter with a space rock: the little asteroid of the main belt Donaldjohanson.
This next event represents an exhaustive general trial for Lucy’s main mission during the next decade: the exploration of multiple Trojan asteroids that share Jupiter’s orbit around the Sun. Lucy’s first match with an asteroid (in November 2023) gave the team the opportunity to perform a systems test that will develop during the next overflow.
Lucy’s maximum approach to DonaldjoHanson will occur at 01:51 PM EDT –19: 51 Spanish time– of the April 20at a distance of 960 km. About 30 minutes before its maximum approach, Lucy will be oriented to track the asteroid, during which its high gain antenna will move away from the earth, suspending communication. Guided by his terminal monitoring system, Lucy will rotate autonomously to keep DonaldjoHanson in sight. In doing so, Lucy will make a more complex observation sequence than that used in Dinkinesh. The three scientific instruments – the generator of high -resolution gray images L’Lorri, the color image generator and infrared spectrometer L’Ralph, and the distant infrared spectrometer L’es – will make observation sequences very similar to those that will be performed in the Trojan asteroids.
DonaldjoHanson asteroid recreationNASA
-However, unlike Dinkinesh, Lucy will stop tracking DonaldjoHanson 40 seconds before his closest approach to protect his sensitive instruments from intense sunlight.
«If you were sitting in the asteroid watching the Lucy spacecraft approach, you would have to protect your eyes looking in the sun while waiting for Lucy to come out of the glow. After Lucy passes through the asteroid, the positions will be invested, so we must protect the instruments in the same way, ”he explained in a statement Michael Vincentleader of the meeting phase at the SWRI (Southwest Research Institute). These instruments are designed to photograph objects illuminated by a sunlight 25 times more dim than that of the earth, so looking towards the sun could damage our cameras.
Fortunately, this is the only one of Lucy’s seven games with asteroids with this complex geometry. During the meetings with Trojans, as with Dinkinesh, the spacecraft may collect data throughout the match.
After the closest approximation, the “back” spacecraft, reorienting its solar panels towards the sun. Approximately one hour later, the ship will restore communication with the earth.
