NASA adds another target for its Lucy mission; asteroid number jumps to nine

NASA's Lucy spacecraft, which launched last October to study eight distinct asteroids in Jupiter's orbit has found its ninth target. This new object was identified by scientists when they discovered one of Lucy's targets - Polymele - having a companion in March this year when the asteroid briefly passed in front of the star.

Currently on a 12-year-long journey, Lucy will become the first man-made object to fly past one of the trojan asteroids in 2027.

(Lucy's orbital path; Image: NASA)

Lucy's mission objective

The mission was launched with the objective to study one main-belt asteroid and seven trojan asteroids which are clustered around the two Lagrange points equidistant from the Sun and Jupiter. Scientists believe that these primitive asteroids hold vital clues to deciphering the history of the solar system as they might be leftover building blocks. Lucy will fly by each of these asteroids in a span of 12 years and the initial Earth's gravitational assistance this year will boost and guide the spacecraft's course past Mars' orbit.

In 2024, the probe will again fly back toward Earth for another gravitational assistance, propelling Lucy into the Donaldjohanson asteroid into the main asteroid belt of the solar system. Notably, Lucy's flyby of the eight trojan asteroids will occur between 2027 and 2033 whereas it would cross the main-belt asteroid in 2025.

Lucy's current status

Currently, the mission team is trying to fully deploy Lucy's solar panels which failed to unfurl completely after the launch. Following its liftoff from Florida's Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, the solar arrays got stuck during their deployment and were somewhere between 75% to 95%, NASA revealed. Most recently, the engineers tried to free the jammed arrays by using both the primary and backup motor windings to pull them outward. According to NASA, the commands to start the panel-deploying motors were first sent on May 9, May 12 and May 26, and the results of the process were analysed. 

Despite several attempts, the mission team was unable to unfurl the panels 100%; however, the engineers said that this would not impact Lucy's journey. Notably, its first-ever gravity assist from Earth is scheduled for October.