NASA reported that the Jupiter probe “Lucy” successfully completed its flyby of the Dinkinesh asteroid on November 1 and examined it with an array of scientific instruments. The collected data will be transmitted to Earth and processed for about a week. Lucy’s primary mission to study Jupiter’s Trojan asteroids will begin in just four years.

The Lucy probe was launched into space on October 16, 2021. Its main goal will be to study nine objects, called Trojan horse asteroids, that appear to predate the formation of the Solar System. The transits of these asteroids will begin in 2027 and end in 2033. But besides these targets, auxiliary targets were also selected for “Lucy”, which she would meet on her way or with which it would be possible to fly quite close with the help of simple maneuvers.

Asteroid “Dinkinesh” became one of three such targets. A minor maneuver in May 2023 reduced the asteroid’s flight range from 65,000 km to 425 km. This allowed the NASA team to test the operation of scientific instruments, including a high-resolution camera and a spectrometer. We expect a detailed report on this incident within a week. The data will show how ready “Lucy” is for the main mission.

Another secondary target of the Jupiter probe will be the asteroid 52246 Donaldjohanson. After performing another close-to-Earth gravitational maneuver, the probe will pass by the Earth on April 20, 2025, at a distance of 922 km. Each time the probe will have a very limited time to examine the sky rocks. And each new unscheduled flyby will help scientists better prepare to collect data during flybys of Jupiter’s Trojan asteroids.