The Lucy spacecraft, during its nominal 12-year mission, will fly by and collect data from seven primitive worlds in the same orbit as Jupiter, as well as a main belt asteroid.
Robert Pearlman Editor
Posts: 54816 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
posted 10-15-2021 09:40 PM
NASA live video
NASA's Lucy mission is scheduled to launch on Saturday, Oct. 16, 2021 at 5:34 a.m. EDT (9:34 UTC) to the Trojan asteroids.
Robert Pearlman Editor
Posts: 54816 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
posted 10-16-2021 04:32 AM
Lucy will mark the 100th launch from Complex 41 at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station (formerly Air Force Station).
Robert Pearlman Editor
Posts: 54816 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
posted 10-16-2021 04:58 AM
NASA/Bill Ingalls photo
A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket with the Lucy spacecraft aboard is seen in this 2 minute and 30 second exposure photograph as it launches from Space Launch Complex 41, Saturday, Oct. 16, 2021, at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.
Robert Pearlman Editor
Posts: 54816 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
posted 10-14-2022 01:16 AM
On Sunday (Oct. 16) at 7:04 a.m. EDT, the Lucy spacecraft will fly by Earth, passing a mere 220 miles (350 kilometers) above the planet.
At around 6:55 a.m. EDT, Lucy will first be visible to observers on the ground in Western Australia (6:55 p.m. for those observers). Lucy will quickly pass overhead, clearly visible to the naked eye for a few minutes before disappearing at 7:02 a.m. EDT as the spacecraft passes into the Earth’s shadow. Lucy will continue over the Pacific Ocean in darkness and emerge from the Earth's shadow at 7:26 a.m. EDT. If the clouds cooperate, sky watchers in the western United States should be able to get a view of Lucy with the aid of binoculars.
The public is invited to join the #WaveToLucy social media campaign by posting images of themselves waving towards the spacecraft and tagging the @NASASolarSystem account. Additionally, if you are in an area where Lucy will be visible, take a photograph of Lucy and post it to social media with the #SpotTheSpacecraft hashtag. Instructions for observing Lucy from your location are available here.
Blackarrow Member
Posts: 3854 From: Belfast, United Kingdom Registered: Feb 2002
posted 04-23-2025 11:02 AM
The 'Lucy' spacecraft has now made its second asteroid flyby, having carried out observations of main-belt asteroid Donaldjohanson from as close as 600 miles on Monday 21st April. Initial images show a twin-lobe body with an odd neck. I can't speak for the NASA controllers, but the image quality exceeded my expectations, and more will be available soon.
Blackarrow Member
Posts: 3854 From: Belfast, United Kingdom Registered: Feb 2002
posted 06-05-2025 05:22 PM
The last information about the Lucy encounter with asteroid Donaldjohanson was on or about 23rd April. Actually, the last information on NASA's "Lucy" website was on 20th April, showing a brief video of the encounter. This didn't actually show the entire asteroid.
I have hunted high and low online but have found precisely nothing about the encounter other than that brief video. No still images, no data on the encounter, nothing. It's as if a total news blackout has been implemented.
I have two questions:
Can anyone more skillful in online searching find anything up-to-date about the Donaldjohanson encounter, specifically images showing the whole asteroid?
Why would there be no publicly-available updates on a NASA asteroid mission? Is this one of those ridiculous proprietary-interest situations where publicly-funded investigators withhold information from the people who pay their salary? (I acknowledge that I'm not a U.S. taxpayer, but clearly U.S. taxpayers aren't being told either.)
denali414 Member
Posts: 910 From: Raleigh, NC Registered: Aug 2017
posted 06-09-2025 07:04 AM
Not sure if this helps, but more images and 3D.
Blackarrow Member
Posts: 3854 From: Belfast, United Kingdom Registered: Feb 2002
posted 06-30-2025 03:49 PM
No, that's just the same 5-second video that has been available since April 21st. Since then, there has been absolutely nothing else. No additional images, no news, nothing.
Imagine it's 1989: Voyager 2 has just flown past Neptune. NASA releases two or three images, then there is a total news black-out. Three months after the encounter the public has seen nothing since those first two or three images. I think that would have been considered very odd indeed.
So why the total news blackout after that 5-second asteroid encounter video? I hasten to add that I'm not suggesting anything sinister: no "alien base on Donaldjohanson" nonsense. I just want to know why NASA considers it either (a) unnecessary; or (b) undesirable to release any more information about this asteroid encounter.
If you Google "NASA Lucy Mission" you will be treated to a report about the encounter as a future event that has not yet happened. How does NASA expect to get young people interested in space exploration if it refuses to tell people what its spacecraft are doing?
I know they have major budgetary problems, but surely someone can post a simple update with the latest details of the encounter? Does anyone have any contacts in NASA who can explain this news blackout?
Axman Member
Posts: 783 From: Derbyshire UK Registered: Mar 2023
posted 07-01-2025 04:48 AM
I don't think there is anything sinister in the lack of further images, and neither is it a news blackout. It was a very swift flyby. The 'video' is an AI animation of the two photographs that were taken towards closest approach.
Lucy was not 'spun' to capture more detail at closest approach, nor any attempt made to photograph the asteroid from 'behind'.
The main focus was tuning and verifying the camera orientation systems in anticipation of the major targets - the Trojans.
Those two pictures, and the AI enhanced video produced from them is it. There are no more images of Donaldjohanson. (Actually there are, but they are all on approach as point of light images with no surface detail - those too were released by Goddard, but unsurprisingly are un-newsworthy.)
Robert Pearlman Editor
Posts: 54816 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
posted 07-02-2025 10:58 AM
I asked NASA public affairs about the status of more image releases and they responded by releasing new stills today.
The images below were taken by the spacecraft's L'LORRI imager a few minutes before its closest approach. This successful dress rehearsal gives the team high confidence that both the spacecraft and the team are well prepared for the main events: the upcoming encounters with the Jupiter Trojan asteroids.
They also said that more images from the flyby of Donaldjohanson will be released into the Planetary Data System when ready.
Blackarrow Member
Posts: 3854 From: Belfast, United Kingdom Registered: Feb 2002
posted 07-02-2025 06:08 PM
Thanks, Robert. I was certain there had to be at least one earlier image showing the whole of asteroid Donaldjohanson (DJ). NASA has been doing this sort of thing for many decades and I don't believe it has ever done an asteroid or comet flyby (however quickly) without capturing an image of the whole object before taking closer, higher-resolution images. It's always important to assess the shape and dimensions of an irregular object to estimate its volume and density. But this begs an obvious question: why were these images were not released just after the flyby of DJ along with the 5-second video? And if there are indeed more images as yet unreleased, why is that? By way of comparison, at least 6 or 7 images showing Lucy's first target, Dinkinesh, were released within days, revealing the presence of a contact-binary satellite.
I agree with Alan (Axman) that the encounter with DJ allowed NASA to verify the procedures for imaging the forthcoming Trojan asteroid targets, but I'm fairly confident those encounters will be expected to produce dozens, if not hundreds of images during fairly brief windows of opportunity. The images of DJ were taken 13 seconds apart and that surely must have allowed time for as many images up to closest approach as was achieved at Dinkinesh.
However, I also agree that no outgoing images were taken. I believe this was to avoid pointing the cameras at or towards the sun. That will have limited the total number of encounter images.
posted 10-15-2021 09:39 PM
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