Key Points
On November 1, 2023, as the spacecraft flew by the asteroid Dinikesh, it made a stunning discovery..
Nasa's Lucy spacecraft, on a mission to explore asteroids near Jupiter, has made an exciting discovery...
The Lucy team had speculated about Dinkinesh being a binary system due to changes in the asteroid's brightness observed by Lucy's instruments..
This encounter also served as an in-flight test of the spacecraft's terminal tracking system, which allows Lucy to autonomously track an asteroid as it flies past at 10,000 mph.. . ) ..
The mission's main targets, the Jupiter Trojan asteroids, are expected to be encountered starting in 2027...
You might be interested in
Nasa’s Lucy spacecraft swoops past first of 10 asteroids on its way to Jupiter
02, Nov, 23The spacecraft zoomed by at a staggering speed of 16,000 kmph, coming within 434 kilometers of Dinkinesh. This encounter served as a dry run for the spacecraft.