NASA's Lucy probe flies up to Dinkinesh Belt asteroid: ‘Meeting’ to take place tomorrow

The Lucy spacecraft is approaching its first asteroid: their “meeting” will take place tomorrow, November 1, 2023.

The NASA mission team reports that the final trajectory correction maneuver performed on September 29 successfully put the spacecraft on course for a rendezvous with the small main belt asteroid Dinkinesh.

According to information from NASA, on October 28, the team sent the final update to the Lucy probe, containing the most up-to-date data on the relative position of the device and the asteroid. This data is accurate enough to ensure the correct direction of the spacecraft over the more than 800,000 km that currently separates Lucy and Dinkinesh.

The critical moment, when Lucy will approach Dinkinesh at a distance of about 16,000 km, will occur on the morning of November 1. The probe will track the asteroid's position using its tracking system, periodically adjusting its position to provide scientific instruments with a complete view of the small asteroid to be studied.

Once close to Dinkinesh, Lucy will be in a position to continuously track the asteroid. This involves temporarily ceasing communications with Earth until the survey is completed, when the probe's antenna will be repurposed to transmit data back to Earth. The plan is to send images and other scientific data over the coming weeks.

The Dinkinesh asteroid, which only received its name in February 2023, will be the first stop on the Lucy probe's journey. Originally not part of the 12-year space tour (during which the spacecraft would visit nine other asteroids), Dinkinesh was added to the route only in January 2023 to test the tracking system.

Lucy is expected to return to Earth around 2030 for a third gravitational boost, before heading to the two giant asteroids Patroclus-Menoetius, which will likely happen as early as 2033.