CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. On Wednesday, NASA’s Lucy spacecraft reached a significant milestone as it encountered the first of 10 asteroids on its extensive voyage to Jupiter. The spacecraft, traveling at a speed of 10,000 mph (16,000 kph), swiftly passed by the diminutive Dinkinesh, situated about 300 million miles (480 million kilometers) away in the asteroid belt beyond Mars.
NASA described the encounter as “a quick hello” and a dry run for testing Lucy’s instruments before it approaches more substantial and captivating asteroids. Dinkinesh, measuring only half a mile (1 kilometer) across, is likely the smallest space rock on Lucy’s celestial itinerary.
Lucy’s primary targets are the “Trojans,” swarms of unexplored asteroids near Jupiter that are considered to be time capsules from the early solar system. The spacecraft is set to pass by eight Trojans, believed to be 10 to 100 times larger than Dinkinesh, and complete its journey by flying past the final two asteroids in 2033.
Launched by NASA two years ago on an approximately $1 billion mission, Lucy is named after the 3.2 million-year-old skeletal remains of a human ancestor found in Ethiopia in the 1970s. The next asteroid in Lucy’s itinerary is named after one of the fossil Lucy’s discoverers: Donald Johanson.
Despite a loose solar wing on the spacecraft, flight controllers believe it to be stable enough for the mission and have stopped efforts to secure it. Wednesday’s flyby marks the culmination of what NASA has dubbed “Asteroid Autumn,” following the return of the first samples from an asteroid in September and the October launch of a spacecraft toward the metal-rich asteroid Psyche.
Unlike these previous missions, Lucy will not make stops at asteroids or collect samples. It will take at least a week for the spacecraft to transmit all the images and data obtained during the flyby.
“Dinkinesh has been nothing more than ‘an unresolved smudge in the best telescopes’ until now,” stated Hal Levison, the lead scientist at the Southwest Research Institute.
Si Venus L Peñaflor ay naging editor-in-chief ng Newsworld, isang lokal na pahayagan ng Laguna. Publisher din siya ng Daystar Gazette at Tutubi News Magazine. Siya ay isa ring pintor at doll face designer ng Ninay Dolls, ang unang Manikang Pilipino. Kasali siya sa DesignCrowd sa rank na #305 sa 640,000 graphic designers sa buong daigdig. Kasama din siya sa unang Local TV Broadcast sa Laguna na Beyond Manila. Aktibong kasapi siya ng San Pablo Jaycees Senate bilang isang JCI Senator.
