Lucy Spacecraft

Current Context: NASA’s Lucy spacecraft is set to fly by asteroid Donaldjohanson on April 20, 2025, as part of its 12-year mission to study ancient asteroids in the solar system.

About Lucy Mission

• Launched: 2021 by NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration).
• Mission Duration: 12 years.
• Objective: Study Trojan asteroids near Jupiter and other primitive asteroids to understand the early solar system and planetary formation.

About Asteroid Donaldjohanson

• Location: Main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter (~139 million miles from Earth).

Purpose of Flyby:

• Test run before major Trojan asteroid encounters (2027–2033).
• The Lucy spacecraft will only pass by the asteroid once, focusing on testing its instruments.
• Helps calibrate instruments and gather data on asteroid shape and surface.
• Believed to have an unusual shape (possibly like a bowling pin or snowman).

Scientific Instruments on Lucy

• L’Ralph – Lucy Ralph Spectrometer (Colour camera + Infrared Imaging Spectrometer)
• L’LORRI – Lucy Long Range Reconnaissance Imager (High-resolution camera)
• L’TES – Lucy Thermal Emission Spectrometer (Far-infrared spectrometer for surface temperature and composition)