NASA's DART asteroid strike results in a big nudge
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People on the ground were able to get a rare glimpse of NASA’s spacecraft Lucy, as it swung past Earth last night as part of its 12-year-mission to visit a record number of asteroids. The spacecraft, the first mission to the Jupiter Trojan asteroids, got so close to the Earth that it skimmed our atmosphere, passing a mere 220 miles (350 kilometres) above the surface. NASA scientists noted that that the probe would use the Earth’s gravity to “sling-shot” past, gaining some of the orbital energy it needs to travel to this never-before-visited population of asteroids. This return visit coincides with the one-year anniversary of Lucy’s launch on October 16, 2021.
Space enthusiasts were able to watch the live stream of the flyby on the Virtual Telescope Project 2.0, which observed the spacecraft from Italy.
Speaking to Space.com before the event, Italian astrophysicist and founder of the project, Gianluca Masi said: “Every time something interesting happens up there, the Virtual Telescope Project does its best to bring to the world the opportunity to have a look, in real-time. We are particularly happy to share this time the Lucy flyby.
“It will be possible for our viewers to spot something made by humans on its journey of discovery. This spacecraft will help us understand the origin of our solar system by visiting asteroids.”
Lucy approached us from the direction of the sun, because of which the probe could not be seen. However on Sunday at 1055 GMT (11:55 UK time), the spacecraft crossed the Earth’s terminator line, which separates night and day.
However, Lucy still was not illuminated by the sun until 11.02 GMT (12:02 UK time), and was briefly visible with the naked eye from North Western Australia, Timor-Leste and parts of Indonesia.
Following the sling-shot event, NASA’s Planetary Science Division shared an image tweeting: “Hi there, #LucyMission! In this long exposure from Southern California, the passing Lucy spacecraft appears as a streak of light near the top of the image. To the left, a meteor makes a fainter streak as it happens to enter the atmosphere in the same moment.”
Currently, at the start of its 12-year voyage, Lucy will investigate the Trojan asteroids trapped in orbits around the Sun at the same distance as Jupiter, either far ahead of or behind the giant planet.
This gravity assist from this flyby has placed Lucy on a new trajectory for a two-year orbit, at which time it will return to Earth for a second gravity assist.
https://www.youtube.com/embed/BD7SVOQA440
This second assist will give Lucy the energy it needs to fling past planets into the main asteroid belt, where it will observe asteroid Donaldjohanson, and then travel into the leading Trojan asteroid swarm.
There, Lucy will fly past six Trojan asteroids: Eurybates and its satellite Queta, Polymele and its yet unnamed satellite, Leucus, and Orus. Lucy will then return to Earth for a third gravity assist in 2030 to re-target the spacecraft for a rendezvous with the Patroclus-Menoetius binary asteroid pair in the trailing Trojan asteroid swarm.
This initial flyby brought NASA spacecraft extremely close to the Earth, lower than even the International Space Station, passing a region filled with earth-orbiting satellites and debris.
To ensure the safety of the probe, NASA had to develop procedures to anticipate any potential hazardous obstacles, and execute a small manoeuvre if it needed to avoid a collision.
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Coralie Adam, Lucy deputy navigation team chief from KinetX Aerospace in Simi Valley, California said: “The Lucy team has prepared two different maneuvers.
“If the team detects that Lucy is at risk of colliding with a satellite or piece of debris, then–12 hours before the closest approach to Earth –the spacecraft will execute one of these, altering the time of closest approach by either two or four seconds. This is a small correction, but it is enough to avoid a potentially catastrophic collision.”
The spacecraft swung past the Earth at such a low altitude that NASA had to include the effect of atmospheric drag when designing this flyby. Lucy’s large solar arrays increase this effect.
Rich Burns, Lucy project manager at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center said: “In the original plan, Lucy was actually going to pass about 30 miles closer to the Earth.
“However, when it became clear that we might have to execute this flyby with one of the solar arrays unlatched, we chose to use a bit of our fuel reserves so that the spacecraft passes the Earth at a slightly higher altitude, reducing the disturbance from the atmospheric drag on the spacecraft’s solar arrays.”
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