Nasa's Lucy flies close to asteroid Donaldjohanson before heading to Trojans
Lucy autonomously locked onto Donaldjohanson using its Terminal Tracking System
After passing the asteroid, it reoriented its solar arrays
Nasa's Lucy spacecraft completed a close flyby of the small main belt asteroid Donaldjohanson, marking a critical milestone in its 12-year mission to explore Jupiter's Trojan asteroids.
The spacecraft approached the asteroid at a closest distance of approximately 960 kilometers, executing a complex observational sequence designed to simulate its upcoming encounters with the Trojan asteroids.
About 30 minutes before the closest approach, Lucy autonomously locked onto Donaldjohanson using its Terminal Tracking System, which allowed it to rotate and keep the asteroid in view throughout the encounter.
During this time, the spacecraft's high-gain antenna turned away from Earth, suspending direct communication. This autonomous tracking ensured that Lucy's three onboard science instruments â€' the high-resolution greyscale imager L'LORRI, the colour and infrared imager L'Ralph, and the far-infrared spectrometer L'TES â€' could gather detailed data about the asteroid's surface and composition.
To protect its sensitive instruments from intense sunlight, Lucy ceased tracking Donaldjohanson about 40 seconds before closest approach, a unique precaution due to the challenging geometry of this encounter.
After passing the asteroid, the spacecraft reoriented its solar arrays toward the Sun and reestablished communication with Earth roughly an hour later.
Due to the vast distance â€' Lucy was about 12.5 light minutes away from Earth â€' radio signals took over 12 minutes to travel between the spacecraft and mission control.
Consequently, the data collected during the flyby will be transmitted back to Earth over several days as engineers command the spacecraft to downlink the information.
Donaldjohanson, a roughly three-mile-wide asteroid named after the paleontologist who discovered the Lucy fossil, is believed to be a fragment from a collision about 150 million years ago, making it one of the youngest main belt asteroids visited by a spacecraft.
The flyby will provide valuable insights into its shape, surface geology, and cratering history, contributing to a broader understanding of solar system formation and evolution.
Nasa's Lucy spacecraft completed a close flyby of the small main belt asteroid Donaldjohanson, marking a critical milestone in its 12-year mission to explore Jupiter's Trojan asteroids.
The spacecraft approached the asteroid at a closest distance of approximately 960 kilometers, executing a complex observational sequence designed to simulate its upcoming encounters with the Trojan asteroids.
About 30 minutes before the closest approach, Lucy autonomously locked onto Donaldjohanson using its Terminal Tracking System, which allowed it to rotate and keep the asteroid in view throughout the encounter.
During this time, the spacecraft's high-gain antenna turned away from Earth, suspending direct communication. This autonomous tracking ensured that Lucy's three onboard science instruments â€' the high-resolution greyscale imager L'LORRI, the colour and infrared imager L'Ralph, and the far-infrared spectrometer L'TES â€' could gather detailed data about the asteroid's surface and composition.
To protect its sensitive instruments from intense sunlight, Lucy ceased tracking Donaldjohanson about 40 seconds before closest approach, a unique precaution due to the challenging geometry of this encounter.
After passing the asteroid, the spacecraft reoriented its solar arrays toward the Sun and reestablished communication with Earth roughly an hour later.
Due to the vast distance â€' Lucy was about 12.5 light minutes away from Earth â€' radio signals took over 12 minutes to travel between the spacecraft and mission control.
Consequently, the data collected during the flyby will be transmitted back to Earth over several days as engineers command the spacecraft to downlink the information.
Donaldjohanson, a roughly three-mile-wide asteroid named after the paleontologist who discovered the Lucy fossil, is believed to be a fragment from a collision about 150 million years ago, making it one of the youngest main belt asteroids visited by a spacecraft.
The flyby will provide valuable insights into its shape, surface geology, and cratering history, contributing to a broader understanding of solar system formation and evolution. Join our WhatsApp Channel
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
India.com
5 hours ago
- India.com
These 7 animals found on Earth can survive in space, names include cockroach, Tardigrade, Brine Shrimp and…, check full list here
These 7 animals found on Earth can survive in space, names include cockroach, Tardigrade, Brine Shrimp and…, check full list here Their eggs were sent into space and hatched there, and they survived perfectly. By Tahir Qureshi Edited by Tahir Qureshi Advertisement (Representational image: New Delhi: Space is one of the most dangerous places for humans. There is neither oxygen, nor air nor water. On top of that, the vacuum, cosmic radiation and sometimes extreme cold and sometimes extreme heat are life-threatening. But do you know that there are some strange creatures on our earth that can survive even in these extremely difficult conditions? They are no less than a miracle in the eyes of biology. Here we are sharing a list of 7 creatures that can survive in space. Tardigrade: It is one of the toughest organisms. These are small microscopic organisms that can survive in boiling water, freezing cold, radiation and even the vacuum of space. In 2007, scientists sent them to space and they returned alive. They take themselves to a special 'cryptobiosis' state, in which they can survive for years without eating or drinking. Advertisement === Cockroach: Cockroaches are said to survive nuclear radiation. In 2007, as part of Russia's Foton-M3 space mission, cockroach eggs were kept in space radiation. The result was that the eggs hatched safely and the cockroaches remained alive. This is the reason why these creatures can withstand the difficulties of space. Nematode Worm: These small insects were sent in NASA's Columbia Space Shuttle Mission. The special thing was that an accident occurred during the re-entry of the space shuttle, but these small worms endured everything and remained alive. Scientists use them to understand muscle weakness, aging and genetic changes. Advertisement === Brine Shrimp: Brine Shrimp are small shrimp-like creatures that can survive even after drying up completely. Their eggs were sent into space and hatched there and they survived perfectly. This is the reason why research is going on to use them to create closed ecosystems in space missions. Fruit Flies: Fruit Flies were the first creatures to go into space. America sent them into space in the year 1947. They reproduce quickly and scientists use them to understand the effect of microgravity and radiation. Fungi: Some species of fungi, such as Cryptococcus neoformans and Cladosporium sphaerospermum, survive the radiation of space. Scientists are now studying them as natural radiation shields or food options for space missions. Zebrafish: Zebrafish are important organisms in space research because they have DNA similar to humans and their bodies are transparent. They have been used in ISS missions to understand heart development, bone fragility and the effects of microgravity on the brain. Their embryos have successfully developed in the harsh conditions of space.
India Today
5 hours ago
- India Today
The planet mapper
The NASA ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar or the NISAR satellite, the largest collaboration in space between the US and India, is scheduled for launch from Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh, on July 30 at 5.40 pm. One of the most sophisticated radar satellites till date, it has been in the works since 2014. Its goal is to track subtle changes on the Earth's surface that have hitherto proved virtually undetectable. To achieve this, it will scan the planet twice every 12 days in unprecedented detail, literally down to a centimetre, regardless of cloud cover, darkness or foliage.
NDTV
7 hours ago
- NDTV
5 Bizarre Things Scientists Found In Space Recently
The vast expanse of the universe is filled with mysteries that humanity is yet to solve. Floating on a pale blue dot called Earth, it is difficult to fathom the real extent of the cosmos. However, every once in a while, scientists attempt to try to understand the oddities of space. In the process, we end up discovering some bizarre things that make the scientists scratch their heads and revisit their old beliefs. Here are five bizarre things that scientists have found in space recently: Habitable Mars A study by researchers at Harvard's Paleomagnetics Lab has shown that Mars' magnetic field, which could have supported life, may have lasted much longer than previously thought. While Mars is now cold, barren and rocky, evidence suggests that the magnetic field may have lasted until 3.9 billion years ago, compared with previous estimates of 4.1 billion years -- making the Red Planet a prime candidate for a thriving environment for life. The extra 200 million years overlap with the era when the Martian surface became covered with water, the evidence for which has been gathered by several rovers sent by NASA. Expansion of the universe A study has claimed that black holes are driving the expansion of the universe, not dark energy. For a long time, scientists have believed in the inflationary universe theory, which states that almost 14 billion years ago, at the start of the Big Bang, a mysterious energy, believed to be dark energy, accelerated the expansion of the infant universe. However, the radical new study challenges this notion. After analysing data from the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI), scientists claimed that there is a correlation between the growth of black hole mass and the increasing density of dark energy over time. Earth spinning faster A full day on Earth lasts about 86,400 seconds, or 24 hours, but as per scientists, the planet is rotating faster this summer, prompting the idea of reducing one second from the Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). The International Earth Rotation and Reference Systems Service and the US Naval Observatory declared that July 10 was the shortest day of the year so far, lasting 1.36 milliseconds less than 24 hours. The official timekeepers in the world may have to take an unprecedented step if this pace keeps up; deduct one complete second from the world time. Dark energy weakening Dark energy makes up roughly 70 per cent of the universe, but some recent reports suggest that it is weakening over time. In March, an international group of more than 900 researchers submitted their findings after analysing three years of data from 15 million galaxies and quasars. The findings showed that dark energy was a "cosmological constant," but it was changing over time in unexpected ways. Data showed that at the beginning of the universe, dark energy was very strong, but it has weakened over time and may continue to do so. Powerful blazar In January, scientists stumbled upon a supermassive black hole, located a whopping 12.9 billion light-years from Earth, with its jet pointing straight at us. Named J0410-0139, the black hole has a mass of about 700 million Suns and is one of the oldest of its kind that scientists have ever observed. The energy beam from this black hole has travelled to Earth, just over 100 million years after the Big Bang took place -- setting a new record for the distance from which scientists have observed such a phenomenon.
