NASA’s Lucy Spacecraft Swings by Earth on Its Launch’s Anniversary

On the first anniversary of its launch, NASA's Lucy spacecraft swings over Earth's atmosphere while its route to the Trojan asteroids.

According to Digital Trends, Lucy cruised around Earth before returning to space to study the solar system's creation.

Lucy Visits Earth's Atmosphere to Say Hello

Sunday saw NASA's Lucy spacecraft lowering 220 miles above the planet's surface, traversing satellites and other junk.

Lucky onlookers in Western Australia who had been skywatching to see Lucy go into the shadow of the Earth could view the exploration satellite.

To provide Lucy with a new route for a two-year orbit that would give it the energy to pass the main asteroid, NASA (per Fox News) announced that this visit was a part of the first gravity assist.

This slingshot maneuver occurs on the same day as Lucy's October 16, 2017, launch, which begins a 12-year journey to Jupiter's asteroids.

Rich Burns, the project manager for Lucy, said in a NASA statement that Lucy was initially supposed to fly 30 miles closer but flew a little higher to lessen the disruption in the solar arrays.

According to CNN World, this minor adjustment is a part of an attempt to prevent potentially disastrous accidents in space.

Digital Trends added that Lucy also passed past the moon after it traveled away from Earth, providing a chance to snap pictures as calibrations and stand-ins for research.

ALSO READ: NASA's Lucy Spacecraft To Make a Close Flyby on Earth on the First Anniversary of Its Launch

According to John Spencer of the Southwest Research Institute, the science that Lucy will do depends on the number of craters to comprehend the Trojan asteroids' collisional history.

He thinks that by comparing the few photographs to those from earlier space expeditions, Lucy will have the opportunity to enhance its capacity to recognize craters.

Lucy will be the first spacecraft to visit the remains of an early solar system once it arrives at the Trojan asteroids, allowing researchers to understand better how the planets evolved and how they will end.

Lucy's Long Journey

NASA claims that gravitational support from Earth is required to keep Lucy on the course because the Trojan asteroids are entangled in the orbits of the sun.

As a result, the spacecraft will make three slingshot returns, the second of which is anticipated to send it straight to the main asteroid belt, where it will examine the asteroid Donaldjohanson.

According to Space.com, Lucy will fly through six Trojan asteroids during this launch, including Eurybates and its satellites Queta, Polymele, Leucus, and Orus.

When Lucy makes her final journey in 2030, it will collide with the binary asteroid pair Patroclus and Menoetius before making its final trip back to each.

By posting about their encounters with the spaceship in their communities on social media, NASA asked the public to participate in the #WaveToLucy social media campaign.

This link will take you to information on how to observe Lucy once it makes another pass by the Earth.