The International Space Station (ISS), for instance, has steered out of the method of area particles 31 times given that 1999, including three times given that 2020.
On October 16, 2022, Lucy will fly by the Earth like a partner in a swing dance, enhancing its speed and extending its orbit around the Sun. At 7:04 am, Eastern Time, Lucy will make its closest technique at simply 219 miles above the world: lower than the International Space Station. This extremely close shave will increase its velocity by four-and-a-half miles per second, setting Lucy on track to acquire much more speed when it returns to Earth for its second gravity help in December 2024. Credit: NASAs Goddard Space Flight Center
” Low-Earth orbit is getting more crowded, so that needs to be part of the consideration nowadays, specifically for missions that fly low, like Lucy,” said Dr. Dolan Highsmith. He is primary engineer for the group that figures out the probabilities of crashes between NASAs robotic spacecraft and Earth-orbiting things, the Conjunction Assessment Risk Analysis group at NASAs Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. NASAs Johnson Space Center in Houston does the very same for crewed spacecraft, consisting of the space station.
Introduced a year ago, on October 16, 2021, Lucy is on a 12-year-journey to study multiple Trojan asteroids up close. Found by German astrophotographer Max Wolf in February 1906, the Trojan asteroids are trapped in orbits around the Sun at the very same distance as Jupiter. Lucy will be the first spacecraft to visit these residues from the early planetary system, helping researchers refine their theories on how the worlds formed 4.5 billion years back and why they ended up in their existing configuration.
Lucy has a long method to go prior to it arrives at the Trojans in 2027. The upcoming gravity assist is among three the spacecraft will depend on to catapult itself to its deep-space targets.
On October 16, 2022, NASAs Lucy spacecraft will fly by the Earth for the first of 3 gravity assists. During the maneuver, Lucy will pass within 219 miles of the planet (lower than the International Space Station) and will fly through a cloud of over 6,200 Earth-orbiting satellites.
When Lucy comes closest to Earth for its very first gravity assist it will travel 220 miles (350 km) above the surface. On its method down, Lucy will fly through the most congested layer of Earths orbit, which is kept track of by the U.S. Space Forces 18th Space Control Squadron.
Engineers began accident analysis for Lucy a week prior to the spacecrafts Earth method. Starting the process any earlier would render crash forecasts futile, Highsmith said: “The more youre forecasting into the future, the more unsure you are about where an object is going to be.”
Lucy will explore the Jupiter Trojan asteroids– believed to be “fossils of world development.” Credit: NASAs Goddard Space Flight Center
Identifying the positions of spacecraft, plus orbiting satellites and particles, is challenging, especially when attempting to prepare for the future. Largely thats because the Sun plays a significant function in pulling or pushing items around, and future solar activity is difficult to forecast. The Suns activity– how much plasma and radiation it shoots out– affects atmosphere density, and hence how much friction will yank on a spacecraft and slow it down.
The closer the crash evaluation is to the Earth flyby time, the much better. NASA sends Lucys whereabouts to the Space Force squadron daily. If the squadron identifies that Lucy could converge with something, Highsmiths group will compute the possibility of a crash and work with the objective group to move the spacecraft, if essential.
Ride-along view of Lucys first Earth gravity help (EGA). The camera follows Lucy as the spacecraft approaches the sunlit side of Earth prior to crossing into Earths shadow as it slingshots around the world. This is a slower version of the complete flight along view above, focusing on the technique. Credit: NASAs Scientific Visualization Studio
“With such a high-value objective, you actually require to make sure that you have the ability, in case its a bad day, to get out of the method,” Highsmith said.
Lucy navigation engineers have two maneuver alternatives ready in case the spacecraft needs to avoid an item. Both maneuvers need engine burns to speed up the spacecraft, which is taking a trip about 8 miles (12 km) per second. Each maneuver can move Lucys closest technique to Earth up by 2 seconds or 4 seconds, respectively.
“Thats sufficient to avoid any one thing that could be in the method,” said Kevin E. Berry, Lucys flight characteristics team lead from NASA Goddard.
On October 16, 2022, NASAs Lucy spacecraft will fly by the Earth for the first of three gravity assists. Throughout the maneuver, Lucy will pass within 219 miles of the world (lower than the International Space Station) and will fly through a cloud of over 6,200 Earth-orbiting satellites. This information visualization portrays Lucys trajectory through the satellite swarm. Credit: NASAs Scientific Visualization Studio
Mission engineers will continually track NASAs Lucy spacecraft as it prepares to visit Earth on October 16 for a gravity assist. This will enable it to use this planets gravity to get some of the orbital energy and set itself on a course towards the Jupiter Trojan asteroids.
Thats not all the engineers will be carefully tracking. They will have to keep an appearance out for more than 47,000 satellites, particles, and other things circling our planet. A higher than 1-10,000 chance that Lucy will hit among these items, and mission engineers will be needed to slightly adjust the spacecrafts trajectory.
A change is unlikely, and crashes are unusual, NASA experts state the possibilities are increasing as the number of things in Earths orbit grows.
On October 16, 2022, NASAs Lucy spacecraft will fly by the Earth for the first of three gravity assists. On October 16, 2022, NASAs Lucy spacecraft will fly by the Earth for the very first of 3 gravity assists. NASA sends out Lucys whereabouts to the Space Force squadron daily. NASA Goddard supplies total mission management, systems engineering, and the safety and mission guarantee for Lucy. Lucy is the 13th objective in NASAs Discovery Program, which is managed by NASAs Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama.
Hal Levison of Southwest Research Institute (SwRI), in the Boulder, Colorado, workplace, is the primary investigator. SwRI, headquartered in San Antonio, also leads the science group and the missions science observation preparation and information processing. NASA Goddard provides overall objective management, systems engineering, and the safety and objective guarantee for Lucy. Lockheed Martin Space in Littleton, Colorado, built the spacecraft and is providing flight operations. Goddard and KinetX Aerospace in Simi Valley, California, are responsible for browsing the Lucy spacecraft. Lucy is the 13th objective in NASAs Discovery Program, which is handled by NASAs Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama.
