NASA's Lucy Spacecraft To Flyby Asteroid Dinkinesh At 10,000MPH

Space.com

NASA's Lucy mission will flyby asteroid Dinkinesh (aka 1999 VD57).  The spacecraft will zip by the Main Belt asteroid at 10,000 mph (16,093 kmh).   Credit: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Produced, Edited, and Narrated by: David Ladd (AIMM) Animations by: Walt Feimer (KBRWyle) and Jonathan North (KBRWyle) Visualizations by: Kel Elkins (USRA) Music provided by Universal Production Music: "Pioneer" - Lorenzo Castellarin

Transcript

00:00 On November 1, 2023, NASA's Lucy spacecraft will fly by a small main-belt asteroid named

00:07 Dinkinesh.

00:09 This flyby was added to Lucy's list of targets in January 2023.

00:14 There will now be 10 asteroids that the Lucy mission will explore on its record-breaking

00:18 tour.

00:20 Dinkinesh will be the smallest main-belt asteroid to have ever been well-imaged by a spacecraft,

00:26 registering at only about a half-mile in size.

00:29 The primary purpose of this encounter is to test the spacecraft's terminal tracking system,

00:35 which will keep Lucy's instruments pointing at the asteroid as it flies by at 10,000 miles

00:39 per hour.

00:41 This test may prove crucial to the overall success of the mission.

00:45 Even with the best Earth-based observations of these distant objects, there will still

00:49 be some uncertainty about precisely where each target will be as Lucy approaches it.

00:55 During its journey, Lucy will utilize its LELORI instrument for optical navigation to

00:59 improve that knowledge.

01:01 But, uncertainties as large as 100 miles may still remain.

01:05 If nothing was done, the science instruments could completely miss the asteroid during the

01:10 closest approach.

01:13 It's for this reason that Lucy uses the terminal tracking system to image the Trojan targets

01:18 in the final hours of an approach, and to autonomously update the spacecraft's onboard

01:23 knowledge of the location of the asteroid in space.

01:26 This, in turn, allows the instruments to aim with precision, which will facilitate better

01:32 imaging and measurement of these small bodies.

01:36 The Dinkinesh asteroid presents the perfect opportunity to test this system.

01:42 The geometry of this encounter, particularly the angle that the spacecraft approaches the

01:46 asteroid relative to the Sun, is very similar to the mission's planned Trojan asteroid encounters.

01:52 This allows NASA to essentially carry out a dress rehearsal under similar conditions,

01:57 well in advance of the spacecraft's main scientific targets.

02:00 It's also a full year and a half earlier than the already planned Donald Johanson asteroid

02:05 encounter, which will serve as a more intricate and complex test of the spacecraft's systems

02:10 and instruments.

02:12 And since Dinkinesh is much smaller than any of the Trojan asteroids that Lucy will be

02:16 collecting data on, this test is meant to challenge the terminal tracking system's

02:22 capabilities.

02:23 It's likely that the system will lock onto Dinkinesh for only a few minutes before closest

02:27 approach, compared to the hour or more it will have for the Trojan targets.

02:32 So, no matter the end result, this flyby will provide Lucy's science team and flight engineers

02:39 with important insights into how the tracking system can function.

02:43 After the encounter with Dinkinesh, Lucy's orbit around the Sun will bring it back towards

02:47 Earth for its second gravity assist in December 2024.

02:52 That assist will send the spacecraft off to meet its main objectives among the Trojan

02:56 asteroids.

02:59 While the primary purpose of the Dinkinesh encounter is an engineering test, the data

03:03 collected may also provide insight on the relationship between the main belt asteroids

03:07 and near-Earth asteroids.

03:11 It's an exciting addition to Lucy's groundbreaking mission.

03:13 [Music]

03:19 [Music]

03:22 [BLANK_AUDIO]

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