Tag: Lucy
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Gaia detects more than 350 possible asteroid moons
Astronomers have found more than 350 possible moons around asteroids by analyzing data from the European Space Agency’s Gaia space telescope. While asteroids known to have moons, also known as binary asteroids, have been studied by Gaia before, this is the first time the telescope has been used to discover new binary asteroids. “Binary asteroids…
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Lucy completes its first Earth gravity assist after a year in space
A year after its launch, NASA’s Jupiter Trojan asteroid explorer Lucy has completed its first of multiple Earth gravity assists on its journey to explore nine asteroids. Lucy is a first-of-its-kind mission to visit several Trojan asteroids in Jupiter’s L4 and L5 Lagrange points. The mission’s closest approach to Earth occurred on Oct. 16 at…
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Lucy continues to stabilize its solar array before its October flyby
With the first half of 2022 coming to a close, NASA teams are continuing work to resolve the Lucy spacecraft’s solar array issue following its October 2021 launch. Lucy is a first-of-a-kind mission to visit several asteroids in Jupiter’s L4 and L5 Lagrange points. Currently, Lucy is coasting before its first flyby of Earth in…
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NASA, ULA launch historic Lucy mission
NASA and ULA (United Launch Alliance) launched NASA’s next asteroid exploration mission — Lucy — from Florida early Saturday morning, kickstarting the spacecraft’s 12-year journey through the solar system. Liftoff of Atlas V and Lucy occurred at 5:34 AM EDT (09:34 UTC) on Saturday, October 16, from SLC-41 (Space Launch Complex 41) at Cape Canaveral…
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Lucy in final preparations for launch, Principal Investigator discusses mission’s trajectory
After being shipped to Florida in early August, NASA’s most daring asteroid exploration mission yet — Lucy — is now in final launch preparations as the opening of its interplanetary transfer window to Jupiter nears. With the launch date just two weeks away, the mission’s Principal Investigator, Dr. Hal Levison, spoke with NASASpaceflight about the…
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Lucy’s Principal Investigator discusses upcoming mission to Jupiter’s Trojans
Of the varying types of celestial objects humans have sent spacecraft to investigate, there remains a select group of asteroids, located in two separate locations in our solar system, that we have yet to visit — the Trojan asteroids. Trojan asteroids are located at Jupiter’s L4 and L5 Lagrange points, 60 degrees ahead of and…
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Lucy spacecraft passes pre-shipment review, on track for October launch
NASA and Lockheed Martin are another step closer to the launch of their Lucy Trojan Explorer mission, with the craft completing its pre-shipment review ahead of transportation to the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida in August. Lucy will be the first mission of its kind, set to explore several asteroids in Jupiter’s L4…
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SpaceX files protest of NASA’s Lucy launch contract awarded to ULA
File photo of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket inside the company’s hangar at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida. Credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett SpaceX has filed a protest challenging a nearly $150 million NASA contract awarded to United Launch Alliance last month to send a robotic asteroid probe into space. The protest submitted to the Government…
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ULA wins contract to launch NASA’s Lucy mission to visit unexplored asteroids
File photo of a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5-401 rocket lifting off from Cape Canaveral. Credit: United Launch Alliance NASA has selected United Launch Alliance’s Atlas 5 rocket to dispatch the Lucy spacecraft on a mission from Cape Canaveral in October 2021 to fly by seven unexplored asteroids, including six objects locked in orbits leading…
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ULA wins contract to launch NASA’s Lucy mission to visit unexplored asteroids
File photo of a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5-401 rocket lifting off from Cape Canaveral. Credit: United Launch Alliance NASA has selected United Launch Alliance’s Atlas 5 rocket to dispatch the Lucy spacecraft on a mission from Cape Canaveral in October 2021 to fly by seven unexplored asteroids, including six objects locked in orbits leading…