Space observers hoping to get a glimpse of near-Earth objects like NASA will want to look up at the sky this weekend as the Jupiter-bound Lucy rover approaches Earth for its first gravitational assist. Anniversary.
Lucy, launched last October 12, will exceed 490 miles (790 km) above Earth on Sunday, October 16.
This means that skygazers in northwest Australia should be able to see Lucy with the naked eye for a few minutes between 1055 and 1102 UTC (from 1855 aust or 2025 ACST).
For those with proper telescopes and in western North America, catch a glimpse of this bird from UTC 1126 (4:26 a.m., 5:26 a.m., 1:26 a.m.) following emerging from Earth’s shadow, it should be possible.
Lucy Lead Scientist Hal Levison said: “The last time we saw the spacecraft, it was trapped in a payload fair in Florida. It’s exciting to be standing here in Colorado and seeing the spacecraft once more.”
Lucy flies into the orbit of the International Space Station, which has heavy satellite traffic, and approaches Earth. To avoid collision, Lucy may be instructed by the controller to perform maneuvers that can adjust her trajectory for two or four seconds. “Simple fix, but enough to avoid a potentially catastrophic collision”, Adam.
One of Lucy’s solar panels was not properly installed, causing the satellite to approach Earth regarding 30 miles, but those plans have changed, said Rich Burns, project manager for Lucy at Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland.
Lucy’s near-Earth flight plan was close enough that NASA had to take into account atmospheric drag, which would be even worse if the solar panels were to be loosened.
“We chose to use a little bit of the fuel reserve so the spacecraft would pass over Earth at a slightly higher altitude, reducing turbulence from atmospheric drag on the spacecraft’s solar arrays,” Barnes said.
This initial gravitational assist puts Lucy in a two-year orbit around the sun, but it still isn’t enough to send the craft to its final destination, Jupiter’s Trojan asteroid. As such, Lucy will return in 2024 on a second gravitational-assisted mission before becoming the first mission to see space rocks outside our system’s asteroid belt.
12-year-old Lucy’s mission, which is one year old, will merge with an asteroid in her belt before heading to the Trojan horse that shares its orbit around the sun with Jupiter.
Lucy will pass through six Trojans, collect data, and return to Earth in 2030 for a third gravity assist. Its final flight meets a pair of binary asteroids in a swarm of Trojans that Lucy is following, but the first of the six Trojans probe and steer Jupiter around the sun. ®
