Get the latest tech news

NASA’s Lucy spacecraft is about to have its second close encounter with an asteroid

The Lucy spacecraft will observe the asteroid Donaldjohanson on Sunday afternoon, before it moves on to study a handful of Jupiter trojans starting in 2027.

Lucy will use three instruments to capture detailed observations as the object gets closer, rotating with the asteroid over a few hours to get the full picture. It will stop tracking just before the asteroid is nearest, when it’ll have to shield its instruments due to the position of the sun to prevent damaging them. After Donaldjohanson, Lucy will move on to its main targets, a handful of “Trojan” asteroids orbiting the sun in the same path as Jupiter.

Get the Android app