PM_ME_A_FUTURE t1_isz939c wrote on October 19, 2022 at 7:56 PM

How does this work? Is Lucy in orbit around the sun and set to skim by earth once a year? Edit: Nvm, next pass is in 2024, then lastly in 2030. Ty tectonic.

tectonic OP t1_iszalg8 wrote on October 19, 2022 at 8:05 PM

Next pass is in 2024.

rocketsocks t1_it3igp2 wrote on October 20, 2022 at 5:45 PM

Lucy is orbiting the Sun and will perform several gravity assists at Earth in order to get to higher orbits where it can perform flybys of Trojan asteroids in Jupiter's L4/L5 Lagrange points. With two gravity assists, one this year and one in 2024, it'll be able to visit the L4 point where it will visit 4 asteroids in the L4 "camp" in 2027 and 2028. It'll return to Earth for another gravity assist in 2030 before visiting the L5 "camp" in 2033.

Several outer solar system probes have used inner planet gravity assists. Galileo used one assist at Venus and two at Earth to make it to Jupiter while Cassini used two Venus flybys, one Earth flyby, and one Jupiter flyby to get to Saturn.