Hey guys, NASA’s Lucy spacecraft is getting ready for its second close encounter with an asteroid, Donaldjohanson. This is like a practice run for Lucy’s main mission, which is exploring Trojan asteroids near Jupiter. The spacecraft will get really close to Donaldjohanson on April 20th, and it will have to stop communicating with Earth temporarily to focus on tracking the asteroid.

If you’re interested, you can watch a video about Lucy’s upcoming encounter here:

Credit: NASA Goddard

During the encounter, Lucy will use its instruments to observe Donaldjohanson in a similar way to how it will study the Trojan asteroids. The spacecraft has to be careful though, as it will need to protect its instruments from the intense sunlight by temporarily stopping tracking the asteroid.

After the close approach, Lucy will reorient itself back towards the sun and start sending the collected data back to Earth, which will take a few days. Donaldjohanson is a young asteroid, only 150 million years old, and scientists are excited to learn more about its story and how it fits into the history of our solar system.

If you want to read more about Lucy’s upcoming adventure, check out the full article here.

Remember, every asteroid has a unique story to tell, and together they help us understand the history of our solar system better. Stay tuned for more updates on Lucy’s mission!