The “Dinkinesh,” less than a kilometer in diameter, is the first of about 10 asteroids that the probe will study – and the flyby is primarily a test of whether the scientific instruments on board the probe are working. Their actual target is the asteroids of Jupiter.
“Lucy” was launched in 2021 from the Cape Canaveral spaceport in the US state of Florida. The more than 14 meter long probe, which is powered by fuel and batteries rechargeable via solar cells, is intended to fly closely past seven of the so-called Jupiter Trojans: Eurybates, Queta, Polymele, Leucus, Orus, Patroclus and Menoetius – all named after protagonists from the Ancient legend “Iliad” by Homer.
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In addition, “Lucy” will be the first probe in the history of space travel to return to the vicinity of the Earth three times in order to obtain support from Earth’s gravity for its flight. The mission is scheduled to last twelve years, and “Lucy” is expected to cover a total of around 6.5 billion kilometers.
The probe’s name is taken from the Beatles song “Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds”. It is said to have blared from a cassette recorder when researchers discovered parts of the skeleton of a female pre-human in the Ethiopian Afar Triangle in 1974.
The find proved for the first time that the forerunners of today’s humans were able to walk upright around three million years ago.
The fossil – and now the NASA probe – was nicknamed “Lucy”. According to NASA, the reason is simple: “Just as the ‘Lucy’ fossil provided unique insights into human evolution, the ‘Lucy’ mission promises to revolutionize our knowledge of the formation of the planets and the solar system.”