OrbitalHub

Mea AI adiutor dicit:

NASA’s Lucy mission, launched on October 16, 2021, is the first space mission specifically designed to study the Trojan asteroids, a unique group of asteroids that orbit the Sun in two large swarms around Jupiter—one leading and one trailing the gas giant. These celestial bodies are believed to be remnants from the early solar system, offering valuable clues about the formation of the planets. Named after the fossilized human ancestor “Lucy,” whose discovery shed light on human evolution, this spacecraft similarly seeks to uncover the ancient history of the solar system.

The Lucy mission has four primary scientific goals:

Surface Geology – Analyze surface features to determine the history of cratering, layering, and possible past activity like volcanism.

Surface Composition – Identify the composition of the asteroids’ surfaces to infer the origins of their materials.

Interior and Bulk Properties – Measure mass, density, and structure of each asteroid to understand their internal makeup.

Satellites and Rings – Search for small moons and ring systems, which may help scientists understand how Trojan asteroids have evolved.

By studying these diverse objects, Lucy is expected to provide insights into planetary formation processes and the dynamics of the early solar system.

Lucy’s mission trajectory is one of the most complex ever attempted. It involves multiple gravity assists and a looping journey through the inner solar system to reach different groups of Trojan asteroids. After launching from Cape Canaveral aboard an Atlas V rocket, Lucy began a 12-year journey involving three Earth gravity assists:

First Earth flyby: October 2022

Second Earth flyby: December 2024

Third Earth flyby: December 2030

These assists help shape Lucy’s path to visit eight asteroids in total—a record for a single NASA mission. These include:

Donaldjohanson (Main Belt asteroid, 2025) – Named after the discoverer of the Lucy hominid fossil.

Eurybates and its satellite Queta (leading Trojan swarm, 2027)

Polymele (2027)

Leucus (2028)

Orus (2028)

Patroclus and Menoetius (binary pair in the trailing Trojan swarm, 2033)

The spacecraft’s ability to fly by both leading and trailing Trojan camps is made possible by its unique and precisely calculated orbit, using Earth’s gravity to slingshot itself across vast distances.

To fulfill its objectives, Lucy is equipped with a suite of three main science instruments:

L’LORRI (Lucy LOng Range Reconnaissance Imager): A high-resolution telescopic camera designed to capture detailed images of the surface features of the Trojan asteroids, similar to what New Horizons used for Pluto.

L’Ralph: This instrument includes both a color visible camera and an infrared spectrometer to analyze surface composition and detect ices, organics, and minerals.

L’TES (Lucy Thermal Emission Spectrometer): Measures the heat emitted from asteroid surfaces, helping scientists estimate the texture and composition of the materials.

In addition to these, Lucy uses a high-gain antenna and radio tracking to precisely measure the gravitational tug of the asteroids during flybys—key for calculating mass and internal structure.

The mission timeline is as follows:

Launch: October 16, 2021

Earth Flyby 1: October 2022 (completed successfully)

Main Belt asteroid Donaldjohanson flyby: April 2025

Trojan flybys (Eurybates, Queta, Polymele, Leucus, Orus): 2027–2028

Return to Earth for gravity assist: December 2030

Patroclus and Menoetius (binary system) flyby: March 2033

End of Primary Mission: Late 2033 (though the spacecraft may continue as an extended mission platform depending on health and power)

NASA’s Lucy mission is a bold and pioneering effort to study some of the oldest and most distant relics of our solar system. Through its ambitious trajectory and carefully selected instruments, Lucy will give scientists an unprecedented look into the origins and evolution of our planetary neighborhood. By exploring a diverse array of Trojan asteroids—each with its own unique story—Lucy stands to revolutionize our understanding of how the planets formed and why our solar system looks the way it does today.

Video credit: NASA Goddard

Mea AI adiutor dicit:

​Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost Mission 1, launched on January 15, 2025, and landed on the Moon on March 2, 2025, marked a significant milestone as the first fully successful commercial lunar landing. Operating for over 14 Earth days on the lunar surface, the mission achieved all its objectives, collecting and transmitting approximately 119 gigabytes of data, including high-definition images of lunar phenomena such as sunsets and a total solar eclipse.​

The Blue Ghost lander carried ten NASA-sponsored science and technology payloads designed to advance lunar exploration and prepare for future human missions:​

Lunar Instrumentation for Subsurface Thermal Exploration with Rapidity (LISTER): Developed by Honeybee Robotics, LISTER utilized pneumatic drilling to measure the Moon’s thermal gradient and conductivity up to depths of 2–3 meters, providing insights into the lunar interior’s heat flow.

Lunar PlanetVac (LPV): Also from Honeybee Robotics, LPV demonstrated a rapid, low-mass method for collecting and sorting lunar regolith using bursts of gas, aiding in sample collection for analysis or potential return to Earth.​

Next Generation Lunar Retroreflector (NGLR): Provided by the University of Maryland, this instrument served as a target for Earth-based lasers to precisely measure the Earth-Moon distance, enhancing our understanding of lunar geophysics and fundamental physics.​

Regolith Adherence Characterization (RAC): Developed by Aegis Aerospace, RAC assessed how lunar dust adheres to various materials over time, informing the design of dust-resistant surfaces for future lunar equipment.​

Radiation Tolerant Computer (RadPC): From Montana State University, RadPC tested a computing system capable of withstanding the Moon’s harsh radiation environment, crucial for long-duration lunar missions.​

Electrodynamic Dust Shield (EDS): Developed by NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, EDS employed electric fields to remove dust from surfaces, demonstrating a self-cleaning technology for lunar habitats and instruments.​

Lunar Environment Heliospheric X-ray Imager (LEXI): A collaboration between Boston University, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, and Johns Hopkins University, LEXI captured X-ray images of interactions between the solar wind and Earth’s magnetosphere, contributing to space weather research.​

Lunar Magnetotelluric Sounder (LMS): From Southwest Research Institute, LMS measured electric and magnetic fields to study the Moon’s mantle structure and composition, enhancing our knowledge of lunar geology.​

Lunar GNSS Receiver Experiment (LuGRE): A joint effort by the Italian Space Agency and NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, LuGRE tested the reception of GPS and Galileo signals on the Moon, paving the way for lunar navigation systems.​

Stereo Cameras for Lunar Plume-Surface Studies (SCALPSS): Developed by NASA Langley Research Center, SCALPSS recorded high-resolution images of the lander’s descent, analyzing the effects of rocket plumes on the lunar surface to inform future landing strategies.​

Blue Ghost Mission 1’s success not only demonstrated the viability of commercial lunar missions but also provided valuable data to support NASA’s Artemis program and the broader scientific community’s understanding of the Moon.

Video credit: NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center

Sierra Space dicit:

We have successfully completed our sixth stress test and fourth Ultimate Burst Pressure (UBP) test for our LIFE® 10 commercial space station technology, achieving a rupture at 255 psi, the highest pressure yet. This test exceeded NASA’s Factor of Safety recommendations, demonstrating a safety factor greater than 16x in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) and 23x in lunar environments. Our team continues to lead in the development of expandable structures for various space applications, as we build the world’s first commercial space station.

Video credit: Sierra Space

NASA dicit:

Travel along a steep slope up to the rim of Mars’ Jezero Crater in this panoramic image captured by NASA’s Perseverance just days before the rover reached the top. The scene shows just how steep some of the slopes leading to the crater rim can be.

The rover used its Mastcam-Z camera system to capture this view on Dec. 5, 2024, the 1,349th Martian day, or sol, of the mission. At the time, the rover was about 1,150 feet (350 meters) from, and 250 feet (75 meters) below, the top of the crater rim – a location the science team calls “Lookout Hill.” The rover reached Lookout Hill on Dec. 10 after a climb of 3½ months and 1,640 vertical feet (500 vertical meters).

Video credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU/MSSS

NASA dicit:

This view was captured by NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover within Gediz Vallis channel, which was likely formed by ancient floodwaters and landslides. After Curiosity drove over a bright stone and cracked it open, scientists discovered it was filled with pure sulfur — something that’s never been seen on Mars before. The rover has discovered lots of sulfur-based minerals in the past, but not pure sulfur. In the video, a separate image of the sulfur crystals appears embedded roughly where the rock was found; the camera’s view of the rock was blocked by the rover at the time this panorama was taken.

You’ll also see Curiosity’s robotic arm, which is raised after drilling its 41st hole at a location nicknamed “Mammoth Lakes.” The sample collected by Curiosity was dropped into instruments in its belly, and will help scientists understand how this area formed.

The rover used its Mast Camera, or Mastcam, to take this panorama on June 19, 2024, the 4,220th Martian day, or sol, of the mission. It’s made up of 336 individual images that were stitched together. The color has been adjusted to match lighting conditions as the human eye would see them on Earth.

Video credit: NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory

Wikipedia dicit:

Europa Clipper (previously known as Europa Multiple Flyby Mission) is a space probe in development by NASA. Planned for launch in October 2024, the spacecraft is being developed to study the Galilean moon Europa through a series of flybys while in orbit around Jupiter.

This mission is a scheduled flight of the Planetary Science Division, designated a Large Strategic Science Mission, and funded under the Planetary Missions Program Office’s Solar System Exploration program as its second flight. It is also supported by the new Ocean Worlds Exploration Program. Europa Clipper will perform follow-up studies to those made by the Galileo spacecraft during its eight years (1995 – 2003) in Jupiter orbit, which indicated the existence of a subsurface ocean underneath Europa’s ice crust. Plans to send a spacecraft to Europa were initially conceived with projects such as Europa Orbiter and Jupiter Icy Moons Orbiter, in which a spacecraft would be injected into orbit around Europa. However, due to the adverse effects of radiation from Jupiter’s magnetosphere in Europa orbit, it was decided that it would be safer to inject a spacecraft into an elliptical orbit around Jupiter and make 44 close flybys of the moon instead. The mission began as a joint investigation between the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and the Applied Physics Laboratory (APL), and will be built with a scientific payload of nine instruments contributed by JPL, APL, Southwest Research Institute, University of Texas at Austin, Arizona State University and University of Colorado Boulder. The upcoming mission complements ESA’s Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer launch in 2023, which will fly-by Europa twice and Callisto multiple times before moving into orbit around Ganymede.

The mission is scheduled to launch in October 2024 aboard a Falcon Heavy, during a 21-day launch window. The spacecraft will use gravity assists from Mars in February 2025 and Earth in December 2026, before arriving at Europa in April 2030.

Video credit: NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory