NASA’s Lucy objective, which released on October 16, 2021, for the very first reconnaissance of the Trojans, a population of primitive asteroids orbiting in tandem withJupiter In this artist’s principle (not to scale), the Lucy spacecraft is zipping Eurybates, among the 6 varied and clinically crucial Trojans to be studied. Credit: Southwest Research Institute
The Lucy operations group has actually validated that < period class ="glossaryLink" aria-describedby ="tt" data-cmtooltip ="<div class=glossaryItemTitle>NASA</div><div class=glossaryItemBody>Established in 1958, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is an independent agency of the United States Federal Government that succeeded the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA). It is responsible for the civilian space program, as well as aeronautics and aerospace research. Its vision is "To discover and expand knowledge for the benefit of humanity." Its core values are "safety, integrity, teamwork, excellence, and inclusion." NASA conducts research, develops technology and launches missions to explore and study Earth, the solar system, and the universe beyond. It also works to advance the state of knowledge in a wide range of scientific fields, including Earth and space science, planetary science, astrophysics, and heliophysics, and it collaborates with private companies and international partners to achieve its goals.</div>" data-gt-translate-attributes="(** )" > NASA‘s Lucy spacecraft has actually telephoned home after its encounter with the little primary belt asteroid,DinkineshBased on the details got, the group has actually identified that the spacecraft remains in health and the group has actually commanded the spacecraft to begin downlinking the information gathered throughout the encounter.It will use up to a week for all the information gathered throughout the encounter to be downlinked toEarthThe group is anticipating seeing how the spacecraft carried out throughout this very first in-flight test of a high-speed asteroid encounter.
AsteroidEncounterTest
Dinkinesh, a little inner-main belt asteroid, is10 to100 times smaller sized than theJupiterTrojan asteroids that are the objective’s primary targets. The Dinkinesh encounter acts as a very first in-flight test of the spacecraft’s terminal tracking system.
Lucy’s closest method took place at 12: 54 p.m. < period class ="glossaryLink" aria-describedby =(*************************************************** )data-cmtooltip ="<div class=glossaryItemTitle>EDT</div><div class=glossaryItemBody>EDT is an abbreviation for Eastern Daylight Time, the time zone for the eastern coast of the United States and Canada when observing daylight saving time (spring/summer). It is four hours behind Coordinated Universal Time. New York City, Washington, D.C., Boston, and the Kennedy Space Center are in the Eastern Time Zone (ET).</div>" data-gt-translate-attributes="[{"attribute":"data-cmtooltip", "format":"html"}] ” > EDT( 16: 54 < period class ="glossaryLink" aria-describedby ="tt" data-cmtooltip ="<div class=glossaryItemTitle>UTC</div><div class=glossaryItemBody>Coordinated Universal Time or Universal Time Coordinated (UTC) is the primary time standard by which the world regulates clocks and time. Prior to 1972, this time was called Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) and is also known as "Z time" or "Zulu Time." It is, within about 1 second, mean solar time at 0° longitude.</div>" data-gt-translate-attributes="[{"attribute":"data-cmtooltip", "format":"html"}]" > UTC) at a range within 270 miles(430 km )ofDinkineshHowever, there wasn’t much time to observe the asteroid at this range asLucy sped past at10, 000 miles per hour( 4.5 km/s).
This graphic highlights the predicted movement of the NASALucy spacecraft and its instrument pointing platform( IPP) throughout the encounter with asteroidDinkineshThe spacecraft’s terminal tracking system is created to actively keep an eye on the place ofDinkinesh, making it possible for the spacecraft and IPP to move autonomously in order to observe the asteroid throughout the encounter.The yellow, blue, and grey arrows show the instructions of theSun,Earth, andDinkinesh, respectively.The red arrow shows movement of the spacecraft.Credit: NASA/Goddard/ SwRI
EncounterConfiguration andDataCollection (******************* )
Two hours before closest method, the spacecraft and the rotational platform that holdsLucy’s science instruments( the instrument pointing platform) were commanded to move into encounter setup.After this point, the spacecraft’s high-gain antenna pointed far from theEarth and the spacecraft was unable to return information for the rest of the encounter.
Shortly afterwards, the high-resolution grayscale electronic camera onLucy, L’LORRI, started taking a series of images every15 minutes.( L’LORRI, brief forLucy’sLongRangeReconnaissanceImager, was provided by theJohnsHopkinsAppliedPhysicsLaboratory)Dinkinesh has actually shown up to L’LORRI as a single point of light given that earlySeptember when the group started utilizing the instrument to help with spacecraft navigation.The group approximates that at a range of simply under 20,000 miles (30,000 km), Dinkinesh might seem a couple of pixels in size, simply hardly solved by the electronic camera.
This animation highlights the predicted movement of the NASA Lucy spacecraft and its instrument pointing platform (IPP) throughout the encounter with asteroidDinkinesh The spacecraft’s terminal tracking system is created to actively keep an eye on the place of Dinkinesh, making it possible for the spacecraft and IPP to move autonomously in order to observe the asteroid throughout the encounter. Credit: NASA/Goddard/ SwRI
Instrument Observations and Closest Approach
In addition, Lucy’s thermal infrared instrument, L’TES, started gathering information. L’TES (officially the Lucy Thermal Emission Spectrometer, supplied by Arizona State University) was not created to observe an asteroid as little as Dinkinesh, so the group is interested to see if L’TES had the ability to find the asteroid and determine its temperature level throughout the encounter.
An hour before the closest method, the spacecraft started actively tracking Dinkinesh utilizing the onboard terminal tracking system. The spacecraft utilized T2Cam (the Terminal Tracking Cameras, supplied by Malin Space Science Systems), to consistently image the asteroid. In the minutes around closest method, this system is created to autonomously reorient the spacecraft and its instrument pointing platform as required to keep the asteroid focused in the electronic cameras’ field of vision. Testing this system was the main objective of this encounter.
Advanced Imaging and Post-Encounter Maneuvers
Ten minutes before closest method, the spacecraft was advised to start “closest approach imaging” with the L’LORRI instrument. In these images, taken every 15 seconds at 3 various direct exposure times, the asteroid will be numerous hundred pixels throughout, enabling the group an unmatched view of this little primary belt asteroid, which is approximated to be less than half a mile (1 km) in size.
Lucy waited till about 6 minutes before closest method to start taking information with its color imager (the Multi- spectral Visible Imaging Camera, MVIC) and infrared spectrometer (Linear Etalon Imaging Spectral Array, LEISA), which together make up the L’Ralph instrument (supplied by NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland).
About 6 minutes after the closest method, L’Ralph stopped taking information, and Lucy concluded the closest method observations. By this time, the spacecraft was currently nearly 1,700 miles (2,700 km) past the asteroid. Lucy then started a maneuver described as a “pitchback” in which it reorients its solar selections towards the Sun while the instrument pointing platform continues to autonomously track the asteroid as the spacecraft leaves. This maneuver was created to be performed gradually to reduce spacecraft vibrations as the spacecraft moves its big solar selections. L’LORRI imaged Dinkinesh throughout this procedure to keep an eye on spacecraft stability.
Data Transmission and Observations Continuation
Once the spacecraft was over 8,000 miles (13,000 km) from the asteroid, Lucy stopped actively tracking the position ofDinkinesh From that point on, the group anticipates the asteroid to stay noticeable to the spacecraft’s electronic cameras without the requirement to rearrange the spacecraft or instruments.
Two hours after closest method, the L’TES instrument was advised to stop taking information. L’LORRI will continue occasionally observing the asteroid for another 4 days to keep an eye on the light curve of the asteroid.
Once Lucy turns its high-gain antenna back towards Earth, it will have the ability to resume interactions, with an around 30- minute light-travel-time hold-up in each instructions. The group got the very first signal from the spacecraft within 2 hours of closest method. After evaluating the health and wellness of the spacecraft, the group commanded the spacecraft to start downlinking the information taken throughout the encounter. It will use up to a week for all information to be gone back to Earth by means of NASA’s Deep Space Network.
