NASA's Lucy Spacecraft Flyby Asteroid Dinkinesh At 10,000 MPH

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NASA's Lucy mission flyby asteroid Dinkinesh (aka 1999 VD57).   Credit: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Produced, Edited, and Narrated by: David Ladd (AIMM) Animations by: Walt Feimer (KBRWyle) and Jonathan North (KBRWyle) Visualizations by: Kel Elkins (USRA) Music provided by Universal Production Music: "Pioneer" - Lorenzo Castellarin

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00:00On November 1, 2023, NASA's Lucy spacecraft will fly by a small main-belt asteroid named

00:08Dinkanesh. This flyby was added to Lucy's list of targets in January 2023. There will now be 10

00:15asteroids that the Lucy mission will explore on its record-breaking tour. Dinkanesh will be the

00:21smallest main-belt asteroid to have ever been well-imaged by a spacecraft, registering at only

00:27about a half mile in size. The primary purpose of this encounter is to test the spacecraft's

00:33terminal tracking system, which will keep Lucy's instruments pointing at the asteroid as it flies

00:38by at 10,000 miles per hour. This test may prove crucial to the overall success of the mission.

00:45Even with the best Earth-based observations of these distant objects, there will still be some

00:50uncertainty about precisely where each target will be as Lucy approaches it. During its journey,

00:56Lucy will utilize its LaLaurie instrument for optical navigation to improve that knowledge,

01:01but uncertainties as large as 100 miles may still remain. If nothing was done,

01:07the science instruments could completely miss the asteroid during the closest approach.

01:12It's for this reason that Lucy uses the terminal tracking system to image the Trojan targets in

01:18the final hours of an approach, and to autonomously update the spacecraft's onboard knowledge of the

01:23location of the asteroid in space. This, in turn, allows the instruments to aim with precision,

01:30which will facilitate better imaging and measurement of these small bodies.

01:35The Dinkanesh asteroid presents the perfect opportunity to test the system. The geometry of this encounter,

01:44particularly the angle that the spacecraft approaches the asteroid relative to the Sun,

01:48is very similar to the mission's planned Trojan asteroid encounters. This allows NASA to essentially

01:54carry out a dress rehearsal under similar conditions, well in advance of the spacecraft's main scientific targets.

02:00It's also a full year and a half earlier than the already planned Donald Johansson asteroid encounter,

02:06which will serve as a more intricate and complex test of the spacecraft's systems and instruments.

02:11And since Dinkanesh is much smaller than any of the Trojan asteroids that Lucy will be collecting data on,

02:18this test is meant to challenge the terminal tracking system's capabilities.

02:22It's likely that the system will lock onto Dinkanesh for only a few minutes before closest approach,

02:28compared to the hour or more it will have for the Trojan targets.

02:32So, no matter the end result, this flyby will provide Lucy's science team and flight engineers

02:38with important insights into how the tracking system can function.

02:42After the encounter with Dinkanesh, Lucy's orbit around the Sun will bring it back towards Earth

02:48for its second gravity assist in December 2024. That assist will send the spacecraft off to meet its main

02:54objectives among the Trojan asteroids. While the primary purpose of the Dinkanesh encounter is an

03:01engineering test, the data collected may also provide insight on the relationship between the main

03:06belt asteroids and near-Earth asteroids. It's an exciting addition to Lucy's groundbreaking mission.

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