Lucy is the first mission to explore the Jupiter Trojan asteroids, an ancient population of asteroid “fossils” that orbit around the Sun at the same distance as Jupiter. To reach these distant asteroids, the Lucy spacecraft’s trajectory includes three Earth gravity assists to boost it on its journey to these enigmatic asteroids.
On October 13, 2022, NASA’s Lucy spacecraft captured this image of the Earth and the Moon from a distance of 890,000 miles (1.4 million km). The image was taken as part of an instrument calibration sequence as the spacecraft approached Earth for its first of three Earth gravity assists. These Earth flybys provide Lucy with the speed required to reach the Trojan asteroids — small bodies that orbit the Sun at the same distance as Jupiter. On its 12 year journey, Lucy will fly by a record breaking number of asteroids and survey their diversity, looking for clues to better understand the formation of the solar system.
Category: Space
How to Move a Space Shuttle ⇢
I really enjoyed this video about Endeavour’s final mission:
Artemis I Gets New Launch Windows ⇢
NASA is targeting the next launch attempt of the Artemis I mission for Monday, Nov. 14 with liftoff of the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket carrying the Orion spacecraft planned during a 69-minute launch window that opens at 12:07 a.m. EST. Artemis I is an uncrewed flight test to launch SLS and send Orion around the Moon and back to Earth to thoroughly test its system before flights with astronauts.
‘It Felt Like a Funeral’ ⇢
William Shatner, in his new book, writing about his trip with Blue Origin:
I had thought that going into space would be the ultimate catharsis of that connection I had been looking for between all living things—that being up there would be the next beautiful step to understanding the harmony of the universe. In the film “Contact,” when Jodie Foster’s character goes to space and looks out into the heavens, she lets out an astonished whisper, “They should’ve sent a poet.” I had a different experience, because I discovered that the beauty isn’t out there, it’s down here, with all of us. Leaving that behind made my connection to our tiny planet even more profound.
NASA, SpaceX and Polaris Study Hubble Mission ⇢
When the space shuttle program wrapped up 11 years ago, one of the many things that was lost was the ability to service the Hubble Space Telescope, which needed quite a bit of service back in the shuttle days.
For years, it has been understood that if anything major failed on Hubble after the last shuttle touched down, it could spell the end of the space telescope. Beyond hardware failures, the telescope’s decaying orbit also poses a long-term danger.
The Problem with Liquid Hydrogen ⇢
Eric Berger has an article up about what caused NASA’s SLS rocket launch to be scrubbed last week, and why the problems surrounding liquid hydrogen are so hard to solve:
Hydrogen is the most abundant element in the universe, but it is also the lightest. It takes 600 sextillion hydrogen atoms to reach the mass of a single gram. Because it is so tiny, hydrogen can squeeze through the smallest of gaps. This is not so great a problem at ambient temperatures and pressures, but at super-chilled temperatures and high pressures, hydrogen easily oozes out of any available opening.
The Good and Bad of the SLS ⇢
If you’ve wondered why some of us have such complex feelings about NASA’s new rocket, Eric Berger has a great article on the very subject.
Artemis I Flight Readiness Concludes ⇢
The Flight Readiness Review for NASA’s Artemis I mission has concluded, and teams are proceeding toward a two-hour launch window that opens at 8:33 a.m. EDT Monday, August 29, from Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Pad 39B in Florida.
When the giant SLS rocket gets off the ground, it’ll be a huge win for the agency, which has been developing it for over a decade. I can’t wait to see it clear the tower.
NASA’s Curiosity Rover Marks 10 Years on Mars ⇢
It’s hard to believe that it’s been ten years since Curiosity landed on Mars. I remember watching the news come in, sitting on the edge of my seat. In the decade since, the rover has done some amazing work.
SpaceX Passes 32 Launches for 2022 ⇢
The number is a record for any launch vehicle over the course of a year.
JWST is Up and Running ⇢
The new James Webb Space Telescope is officially in action, and is already beaming back some amazing imagery.
On NASA’s Artemis Schedule ⇢
Over at Ars Technica, Eric Berger has an article outlining the space agency’s internal plans for future moon missions:
The Artemis I mission should launch later this year, testing NASA’s Space Launch System rocket and boosting the Orion spacecraft into lunar orbit. The second mission, Artemis II, will more or less be a repeat, only with four humans on board Orion. Then comes the big test, Artemis III, which will send two humans to the Moon and back during the middle of this decade.