NASA's Lucy team picks new asteroid target for closer inspection
NASA's Lucy spacecraft now has a new asteroid target on its 4-billion-mile journey. The spacecraft is designed to probe some of the "mysterious" Trojan asteroids, which are thought to have originated from the outer solar system. But before that, on November 1, the spacecraft will get a closer look at a small main-belt asteroid to test the spacecraft's innovative asteroid-tracking navigation system.
Why does this story matter?
Astronomers were only able to study the Trojan asteroids from Earth until the launch of the Lucy mission in October 2021. Lucy is the first spacecraft to study these mysterious space rocks up close. The mission already has an ambitious agenda as it is scheduled to visit nine asteroids during its 12-year tour of the Trojan asteroids and now has an additional target.
What are the Trojan asteroids and why are they important?
The Trojan asteroids orbit the Sun at the same distance as Jupiter and have been gravitationally trapped in the giant planet's orbit around the Sun for billions of years now. Since these space rocks have been gravitationally stable for such a long time, scientists believe that they can shed light on the evolution of our solar system.
Asteroid 1999 VD57 measures 700 meters in size
Until 1999 VD57 was identified as a potential target, Lucy was originally not scheduled to get a close-up view of any asteroids until 2025. Asteroid 1999 VD57, measuring 700 meters in size, will be the smallest main belt asteroid ever to be visited by a spacecraft. It is similar in size to the near-Earth asteroids visited by recent NASA missions OSIRIS-REx and DART.
'Lucy's trajectory will take it within 40,000 miles of asteroid'
"I selected 500,000 asteroids with well-defined orbits to see if Lucy might be traveling close enough to get a good look at any of them, even from a distance," said Raphael Marschall, Lucy's collaborator who identified 1999 VD57 as target. "Lucy's trajectory as originally designed will take it within 40,000 miles of the asteroid, at least three times closer than the next closest asteroid."
There are certain issues encountered during flyby missions
Flyby missions are not as easy as they seem, for one, it is hard to determine how far the spacecraft is from the asteroid, and exactly which way to point the cameras. By adding a small maneuver, the team realized they will be able to get a closer look at asteroid 1999 VD57 and thereby test the spacecraft's pioneering terminal tracking system.
Most flyby missions snap images of blank space
"In the past, most flyby missions have accounted for this uncertainty by taking a lot of images of the region where the asteroid might be, meaning low efficiency and lots of images of blank space," said Hal Levison, Lucy's principal investigator. Lucy will be the" first flyby mission to employ this innovative and complex system to automatically track the asteroid during the encounter."
The team will start their maneuvers in early May
Starting in early May, the team will begin a series of maneuvers to orient the spacecraft's trajectory in such a manner that it will pass asteroid 1999 VD57 at approximately 450 kilometers.
