AP reports that on Wednesday, NASA’s Lucy spacecraft “encountered the first of 10 asteroids on its long journey to Jupiter.” The spacecraft “swooped past the pint-sized Dinkinesh, about 300 million miles (480 million kilometers) away in the main asteroid belt beyond Mars.” It was “a quick hello,” according to NASA, “with the spacecraft zooming by at 10,000 mph (16,000 kph).” Lucy came “within 270 miles (435 kilometers) of Dinkinesh, testing its instruments in a dry run for the bigger and more alluring asteroids ahead.” Dinkinesh is “just a half-mile (1 kilometer) across, quite possibly the smallest of the space rocks on Lucy’s tour.” Lucy’s main targets “are the so-called Trojans, swarms of unexplored asteroids out near Jupiter that are considered to be time capsules from the dawn of the solar system.” The spacecraft “will swing past eight Trojans believed to be up to 10 to 100 times bigger than Dinkinesh.” It’s due to “zip past the final two asteroids in 2033.”
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Tag: Asteroids
Startups Seek to Mine Asteroids
NBC News reports that asteroid mining is “a tantalizing but elusive prospect for innovators and investors alike.” Asteroids are a potential source of platinum and “other precious and rare earth metals that are essential for producing many consumer electronics.” However, there are technological hurdles to extracting them, so “some companies have focused on mining water from icy deposits on the moon or space rocks first before jumping to precious metals.” NBC focuses on startup AstroForge, which has its first test mission to demonstrate key technologies scheduled to launch aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket on Tuesday.
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NASA’s Lucy to Visit Eight Asteroids
The AP reports that NASA “is set to launch a series of spacecraft to visit and even bash some of the solar system’s most enticing space rocks.” The Lucy probe is to launch this weekend “on a 12-year cruise to swarms of asteroids out near Jupiter – unexplored time capsules from the dawn of the solar system.” A month later, the Dart impactor will strike a double-asteroid’s moonlet in an attempt to change its orbit.
Full Story (Associated Press)