The so-called Jupiter Trojans are asteroids that orbit the sun on the same orbit as the planet. The NASA probe launched in October 2021 Lucy is supposed to examine it – and has now passed its first test on the way there. The probe was about 400 kilometers away from the asteroid on Wednesday Dinkinesh flew past and successfully completed the maneuver, said the US space agency NASA. It will now take about a week to send all the data collected to Earth.
Dinkinesh Measuring less than a kilometer in diameter, it is the first of about ten asteroids that the probe will study – and the flyby is primarily a test of whether the scientific instruments on board the probe are working. The actual target of the spacecraft is the asteroids of Jupiter.
The more than 14 meter long probe, which runs on fuel and batteries rechargeable via solar cells, is intended to fly closely past seven of the so-called Jupiter Trojans: Eurybates, Queta, Polymels, Leucus, Orus, Patroclus and Menoetius – all named after protagonists from the ancient saga “Iliad” by Homer.
The Jupiter Trojans are asteroids that orbit the sun in the same orbit as Jupiter – one swarm precedes it, one follows it. They are considered “fossils of the formation of planets,” which is why NASA hopes the mission will provide new insights into the formation of planets and our solar system.
Furthermore, should Lucy will be the first probe in the history of space travel to return close to the Earth three times in order to obtain support from Earth’s gravity for its flight. The mission is scheduled to last twelve years, in total Lucy cover 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 development, the promise is Lucymission to revolutionize our knowledge of the formation of the planets and the solar system.”