The interplanetary station “Lucy” encountered the first asteroid on its way to Jupiter

The interplanetary station “Lucy” of the American agency NASA flew past the small asteroid Dinkinesh – the first of ten asteroids on its way to Jupiter, reports AP. Initially, it was assumed that the station would be able to approach the asteroid for the first time no earlier than 2025.

Dinkinesh, which is less than 1 km wide, was added to the Lucy space tour plan to test its tracking system. The asteroid orbits the Sun in the main asteroid belt, which lies between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. The station, at a speed of 16 thousand km/h, managed to approach Dinkinesh at a distance of 435 km.

The Lucy mission was launched on October 16, 2021 from the Cape Canaveral Space Center (USA). Its main goal is to study eight Jupiter Trojan asteroids located at Lagrange points in the Sun-Jupiter system, as well as one Main Belt asteroid. The spacecraft will not enter the orbit of these celestial bodies, limiting itself to research from the flight path. The planned flight duration of the station is 12 years.