The Lucy spacecraft made its first gravitational maneuver near Earth [VIDEO]
(NASA Goddard https://bit.ly/3eDiDKG)
Lucy space station made the first gravitational maneuver near the Earth, and reached below the orbit of the ISS and near-Earth telescopes.
The maneuver will allow the spacecraft to reach several Jupiter Trojan asteroids and one Main Belt asteroid.
Lucy was launched last year, becoming the first project to explore Trojan asteroids that have not yet been visited by spacecraft.
The spacecraft will visit 8 Trojan asteroids of Jupiter and one asteroid of the Main Belt in 12 years, obtaining detailed images of them and determining their properties and composition.
MANEUVER
Now, the morning of October 16, Lucy successfully completed the first gravitational maneuver near the Earth.
The maneuver increased the orbital period of the station around the Sun and changed its orbit, directing the station to the L4 point of the Jupiter-Sun system.
During its approach to the Earth, Lucy ended up 351 kilometers from the surface of the planet
This is below the orbit of the ISS and near-Earth telescopes and led to the need to compensate for the small atmospheric resistance experienced by the ship.
The minimum flyover height was increased from the original value, and a few hours before the station performed a corrective maneuver
Because of this there were no problems with a loose solar array and no collision with space debris.
Source:
- Nasaspaceflight.com: https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2022/10/lucy-first-earth-flyby/
- Eureka Alert: https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/968049
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