All articles tagged with #asteroid flyby
ESA's Space Safety programme has received permission to begin preparatory work for the Rapid Apophis Mission for Space Safety (Ramses), which will rendezvous with asteroid 99942 Apophis and study its close flyby of Earth in 2029. The mission aims to improve our understanding of asteroid behavior and enhance planetary defense capabilities.
NASA captured detailed images of asteroid 2008 OS7, which passed 1.8 million miles from Earth in early February, using the Goldstone Solar System Radar in California. The asteroid's trajectory posed no danger, and NASA used a powerful radio antenna to determine its size, rotation, shape, and surface details. While the solar system used to be more chaotic, astronomers have identified most "planet-killer" asteroids and the likelihood of a significant impact in the next century is low.
NASA's Lucy mission, which recently flew by the small asteroid Dinkinesh, has made a "puzzling" discovery. Initial images suggested that Dinkinesh was part of a binary pair, with a smaller asteroid orbiting it. However, subsequent images revealed that the smaller asteroid is actually a contact binary, two smaller space rocks that touch each other. This unexpected finding has surprised scientists and will provide valuable insights into the formation and composition of asteroids. The Lucy mission aims to survey the Trojan asteroids around Jupiter and will continue its exploration in the coming years.
NASA's Lucy spacecraft has successfully completed its first flyby of asteroid Dinkinesh, marking a milestone in its mission to visit 10 asteroids over the next 12 years. The spacecraft, part of NASA's Lucy mission to uncover secrets of the solar system's past, will study Trojan asteroids orbiting the sun alongside Jupiter. The flyby of Dinkinesh served as a test-run for the spacecraft's instruments, which collected data about the asteroid. The data will be downlinked to Earth over the next week. Lucy will now head back to Earth for a gravity assist before zooming towards its second asteroid target.
NASA's Lucy mission, which aims to study "Trojan" asteroids that share Jupiter's orbit, is set to make its first asteroid flyby on Wednesday. The spacecraft will come within 265 miles of the small main belt asteroid Dinkinesh, testing its tracking system and collecting data as it speeds by at 10,000 mph. This flyby is significant as it will determine if the tracking system is functioning properly. Lucy is named after the Lucy hominin fossils, and Dinkinesh was proposed as the name for the asteroid by the Lucy mission scientists, in reference to the Ethiopian name for the Lucy fossils.