Lucy

Lucy

NASA’s Lucy Spacecraft Images Asteroid Donaldjohanson

NASA’s Lucy spacecraft took this image of the main belt asteroid Donaldjohanson during its flyby on April 20, 2025, showing the elongated contact binary (an object formed when two smaller bodies collide). This was Lucy’s second flyby in the spacecraft’s 12-year mission. Launched on Oct. 16, 2021, Lucy is the first space mission sent to […]

Posted April 23, 2025

Goddard Space Flight Center

Lucy

Missions

Planetary Science

Planetary Science Division

New Modeling Assesses Age of Next Target Asteroid for NASA’s Lucy

Although NASA’s Lucy spacecraft’s upcoming encounter with the asteroid Donaldjohanson is primarily a mission rehearsal for later asteroid encounters, a new paper suggests that this small, main belt asteroid may have some surprises of its own.

Posted March 17, 2025

Asteroids

Goddard Space Flight Center

Jupiter

Lucy

Planetary Science Division

Science Mission Directorate

The Solar System

Trojan Asteroids

Uncategorized

NASA Selects Participating Scientists to Join Lucy Asteroid Mission

NASA has selected eight participating scientists to join its Lucy mission to the Jupiter Trojan asteroids.

Posted February 27, 2025

Goddard Space Flight Center

Lucy

Planetary Science

The Solar System

Trojan Asteroids

NASA’s Lucy Spacecraft Takes Its 1st Images of Asteroid Donaldjohanson

NASA’s Lucy spacecraft has its next flyby target, the small main belt asteroid Donaldjohanson, in its sights. By blinking between images captured by Lucy on Feb. 20 and 22, this animation shows the perceived motion of Donaldjohanson relative to the background stars as the spacecraft rapidly approaches the asteroid.

Posted February 25, 2025

Asteroids

Goddard Space Flight Center

Lucy

The Solar System

NASA’s Lucy Surprises Again, Observes 1st-ever Contact Binary Orbiting Asteroid

NASA’s Lucy Spacecraft took images of asteroid Dinkinesh, discovering that the asteroid has the first-ever contact binary pair orbiting the asteroid.

Posted November 7, 2023

Asteroids

Goddard Space Flight Center

Lucy

The Solar System

NASA’s Lucy Spacecraft Discovers 2nd Asteroid During Dinkinesh Flyby

On Nov. 1, NASA’s Lucy spacecraft flew by not just its first asteroid, but its first two. The first images returned by Lucy reveal that the small main belt asteroid Dinkinesh is actually a binary pair.

Posted November 2, 2023

Lucy

Asteroids

Jet Propulsion Laboratory

Near-Earth Asteroid (NEA)

NEO Surveyor (Near-Earth Object Surveyor Space Telescope)

NEOWISE

Planetary Defense

Trojan Asteroids

WISE (Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer)

Data From NASA’s WISE Used to Preview Lucy Mission’s Asteroid Dinkinesh

Researchers have utilized infrared survey data to refine the asteroid’s size and surface brightness in support of the Nov. 1 encounter by NASA’s Lucy mission. NASA’s Lucy mission will soon have its first asteroid encounter as the spacecraft travels through deep space en route to Jupiter’s orbit. But before the spacecraft passes 265 miles (425 […]

Posted October 30, 2023