Lucy: NASA's Mission to Confront an Asteroid Begins

NASA's Lucy spacecraft is set to rendezvous with the asteroid Dinkinesh in the main asteroid belt on Wednesday, marking its first close encounter with an asteroid. Lucy will collect data on Dinkinesh using its instruments, including a color imager and infrared spectrometer. The spacecraft will then continue to image and track the asteroid for about an hour before reorienting itself to resume communications with Earth. Lucy's mission is to study the Trojan asteroids, and it will begin its tour of these rocky bodies in 2027. Dinkinesh was added to Lucy's list of asteroid targets to test its instruments before reaching the Jovian system.