Context:
NASA’s Lucy spacecraft is on an epic 6-billion-kilometre-long journey to study the Jupiter Trojan asteroids.
Asteroid Dinkinesh:
- Discovery by – LINEAR survey
- Recently identified as a potential fly-by target for the Lucy mission.
- Orbit – It orbits the Sun in the main belt of asteroids between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter.
- Composition – An S-type asteroid (composed mainly of silicates and some metal)
- Instrument – Lucy Long Range Reconnaissance Imager (L’LORRI instrument).
- 1st asteroid that Lucy will visit on its 12-year-long journey.
Lucy Spacecraft:
- Launched in October, 2021.
- Agency – NASA
- Aim – To observe the Jupiter Trojan asteroids
- Objective – To provide updated estimates of the asteroid’s size and albedo – a measurement of surface reflectivity that could help scientists better understand the nature of some near-Earth objects.
- It will first fly by Dinkinesh and another asteroid in the main belt called Donaldjohnson in 2025.
- Supported by – NASA’s Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE)
Trojan asteroids refer to a huge group of small bodies that orbit the Sun in two “swarms”.
Source: Indian Express
Previous Year Question
“The experiment will employ a trio of spacecraft flying in formation in the shape of an equilateral triangle that has sides one million kilometres long, with lasers shining between the craft.” The experiment in question refers to
[UPSC Civil Services Exam – 2020 Prelims]
(a) Voyager-2
(b) New horizons
(c) Lisa Pathfinder
(d) Evolved LISA
Answer: (d)
