Category: Points of Information

Very brief descriptions, with appropriate links, of current or recent news items.

Lucy: Dinkinesh’s moon is actually a contact binary

8:42 am

Dinkinesh's contact binary moon
Click for original image.

As more images have arrived from Lucy’s fly-by of Dinkinesh scientists have discovered that its moon is actually a contact binary.

The Lucy picture to the right, cropped, reduced and sharpened to post here, shows that contact binary on the right.

This image shows the asteroid Dinkinesh and its satellite as seen by the Lucy Long-Range Reconnaissance Imager (L’LORRI) as NASA’s Lucy Spacecraft departed the system. This image was taken at 1 p.m. EDT Nov. 1, 2023, about 6 minutes after closest approach, from a range of approximately 1,010 miles. From this perspective, the satellite is revealed to be a contact binary, the first time a contact binary has been seen orbiting another asteroid.

Data from the fly-by is still being downloaded.

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SpaceX launches 23 Starlink satellites

8:27 am

SpaceX last night successfully launched 23 Starlink satellites, its Falcon 9 rocket lifting off from Cape Canaveral.

The first stage successfully completed its eleventh flight, landing on a drone ship in the Atlantic.

The leaders in the 2023 launch race:

80 SpaceX
50 China
14 Russia
7 Rocket Lab
7 India

American private enterprise now leads China 92 to 50 in successful launches, and the entire world combined 92 to 79. SpaceX by itself once again leads the rest of the world (excluding American companies) 80 to 79.

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November 7, 2023 Quick space links

2:21 pm

Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay.

 

 

 

 

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While 100 universities condemn Hamas, the Ivy League is condemned for looking the other way

1:33 pm

These might be the worst colleges in the country
These are probably the worst colleges in the country

The one good thing that has come from the horrible slaughter of innocents by Hamas on October 7th is that it has made obvious the bankruptcy of America’s so-called elite Ivy League colleges, suggesting without question that if you are either a high school student who wants to get a real education or an employer who wants to hire the best college graduates, these are not the places to find either.

The constrast was made very clear by two letters this week. First, more than one hundred universities nationwide issued a letter harshly condemning Hamas while expressing whole-hearted support for Israel.

We Stand Together With Israel Against Hamas

We are horrified and sickened by the brutality and inhumanity of Hamas. Murdering innocent civilians including babies and children, raping women and taking the elderly as hostages are not the actions of political disagreement but the actions of hate and terrorism. The basis of all universities is a pursuit of truth, and it is times like these that require moral clarity. Like the fight against ISIS, the fight against Hamas is a fight against evil. We, the presidents and chancellors of universities, colleges and higher education associations across the United States of America and the world, stand with Israel, with the Palestinians who suffer under Hamas’ cruel rule in Gaza and with all people of moral conscience. [emphasis in original]

Not surprisingly, none of the Ivy League schools as well as Stanford and the entire California university system signed on. Apparently the torture, rape, and murder of women and children is okay with these “elite” colleges, as long as it is Jewish women and children who are tortured, raped, and murdered.

The second letter directly addressed this lack of moral commitment by these so-called “elite” colleges, and did so by attacking Harvard in particular. On November 4, Bill Ackman, a billionaire hedge fund manager and Harvard alumni, published a 3,000+ word letter directed Harvard’s president, Claudine Gay, and the Harvard Corporation Board, strongly condemning Gay’s unwillingness to unequivocally condemn the oppressive culture on Harvard’s campus, as well as its growing anti-Semitism.
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The grand Valles Marineris of Mars

11:30 am

The grand canyon of Mars
Click for original image.

Time for another cool image of the grand canyon of Mars, Valles Marineris. The picture to the right, rotated, cropped, reduced, and sharpened to post here, was taken on May 24, 2023 by the high resolution camera on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO). It shows a small section of the floor of this gigantic canyon, where orbital data has detected light-toned materials. From the caption:

Many of the Valles Marineris canyons, called chasmata, have kilometer-high, light-toned layered mounds made up of sulfate materials. Ius Chasma, near the western end of Valles Marineris, is an exception.

The light-toned deposits here are thinner and occur along both the floor and walls, as we see in this HiRISE image. Additionally, the sulfates are mixed with other minerals like clays and hydrated silica. Scientists are trying to use the combination of mineralogy, morphology, and stratigraphy to understand how the deposits formed in Ius Chasma and why they differ from those found elsewhere in Valles Marineris.

The picture however gives no sense of the monumental terrain that surrounds it.
» Read more

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Three European nations sign deal with Arianegroup for use of Ariane-6

9:12 am

In a separate deal outside of the European Space Agency, Germany, France, and Italy have signed a deal with the private rocket company Arianegroup to use its still unlaunched Ariane-6, assuming the company can reduce costs.

The agreement will provide €340 million ($365 million) of financing a year for Arianespace’s Ariane 6 rocket in exchange for a commitment to an 11% cut in costs. The rocket will also be awarded at least four missions from public institutions a year, while the lighter Vega C launcher will get at least three.

Essentially the deal is intended to keep Ariane-6 afloat, as its high cost has made it difficult to attract customers. At the same time, the contract demands those costs be reduced, and adds pressure to that demand by noting that future and additional launches will be awarded on a purely competitive bidding process. It appears these three countries will open bidding not only to the new rocket startups being developed in Europe, but American rocket companies as well.

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Japan delays asteroid mission due to its rocket problems

9:02 am

Japan’s space agency JAXA has decided to delay its Destiny+ mission to the asteroid Phaethon until 2025 due to the continuing problems getting its Epsilon-S rocket off the ground.

Epsilon-S is intended as an upgrade to Japan’s Epsilon rocket, but its development has been plagued by failures. In October ’22 there was a launch failure of Epsilon, and in July ’23 the second-stage solid-fueled motor of Epsilon-S exploded during a test.

Phaethon is the parent asteroid of the Geminid meteor shower that occurs each year in December. According to the original plan Destiny+ would have done its fly-by of the asteroid in 2029. No new arrival date has been announced.

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Two Russian satellites — one thought defunct — have been tracked in rendezvous maneuvers

8:51 am

The American commercial satellite tracking company has over the past two years identified two Russian satellites — one thought defunct — that have rendezvoused and done proximity maneuvers.

Resurs-P3 — a Russian Earth observation satellite — performed a large maneuver in November 2022 after years of inactivity, and approached the Russian military satellite Cosmos-2562, according to a LeoLabs briefing.

The maneuver by Resurs-P3 “placed it in an entirely new orbit shared by Russian assets with non-publicly disclosed payloads,” said the briefing. “Based on the approaches observed by LeoLabs, it’s highly likely that Cosmos-2562 has an electro-optical payload and has collected high-resolution imagery of Resurs-P3.”

This new data further documents the long-term classified Russian effort to develop such satellite maneuvering capability, both to track and inspect its own satellites as well as do the same to the satellites of others. The unstated capability also includes the ability to destroy a satellite also, once rendezvous is achieved.

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Astra secures temporary investment funding to keep it afloat

8:44 am

Astra announced yesterday that it has secured temporary funding from private sources to cover its shortfall of cash and allow it to secure additional funds to keep it alive. From the second link:

In a statement issued after the close of trading, Astra said that JMCM Holdings LLC and Sherpa Venture Funds II, LLP, which it described as affiliates of two early investors in Astra, agreed to provide $13.4 million in “initial financing” as part of a non-binding term sheet Astra announced Oct. 23 that sought to raise $15 million to $25 million.

As part of the agreement, the investors will purchase the $8 million loan that Astra had from an unnamed institutional investor from August. Astra had defaulted on the terms of the loan agreement last week when its cash reserves dropped below $10.5 million, triggering a $3.1 million payment at a higher interest rate. The investors will also provide a $3.05 million bridge loan due Nov. 17, and purchase warrants for Astra stock.

The company is not out of the woods quite yet. It needs to obtain new investment capital by November 17th, when that bridge loan comes due.

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Martian lava that buried a crater

5:21 pm

Martian lava flow through crater
Click for original image.

Cool image time! The picture to the right, rotated, cropped, reduced, and sharpened to post here, was taken on June 24, 2023 by the high resolution camera on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO). It shows a lava flow that cut through an older 2-mile-wide crater, mostly burying it as it burst through the crater’s southwest and northeast rims. From the caption:

A lava channel extends from the feature and continues 60 kilometers to the northeast, growing deeper along its path. The circular formation is likely an eroded impact crater whose walls have been breached by the lava as it surrounded the rim and then infilled the crater. Alternatively, it could represent the location of a volcanic vent that sourced some of the lavas that formed the channel.

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November 6, 2023 Quick space links

3:55 pm

Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay.

 

 

 

 

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Middle East Arabs know Hamas is wrong and Israel is right, even if America’s stupid college students don’t

12:28 pm

Hamas vs Israel
Even the Arabs recognize these facts.
Courtesy of Doug Ross.

The past week has been very revealing, as hundreds, even thousands of pro-Hamas demonstrators have swarmed the streets of New York, Washington, London, with some protesters in Washington actually attempting to break into the White House while others vandalized statues and monuments.

These new-Nazis demanded Israel stop fighting Hamas and let it get away with its savage slaying of more than 1,400 citizens, including the torture and rape of women and children. To these fools, Hamas is heroic for killing Jews, and must be allowed free rein to kill them all so that Hamas can rule Israel “from the river to the sea.”

The great irony here is that while these protesters see nothing wrong with mass murder by Hamas, the leaders of other Arab countries have a decidedly different opinion. On October 31, 2023, only days after Israel’s ground attack began, a major official in the government of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) made it clear that not only does that country support the Abraham Accords, its peace treaty with Israel, he also unequivocally condemned Hamas’ brutality.
» Read more

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Galaxies within galaxies within galaxies

9:54 am

Galaxies within galaxies
Click for original image.

Time another cool galaxy image! The picture to the right, cropped, reduced, sharpened, and annotated to post here, was taken by the Hubble Space Telescope as part of a survey project of galaxies where past supernovae had occurred. From the caption:

The location of this faded supernova was observed as part of a study of multiple hydrogen-rich supernovae, also known as type II supernovae, in order to better understand the environments in which certain types of supernovae take place.

Though the picture’s resolution was reduced to post here, I have also included insets at the full released resolution of three of background galaxies, one of which (on the uppermost right) appears to have a second smaller galaxy either associated with it or is another background galaxy even farther away. Such background galaxies are always seen Hubble images, which starkly tell us that the universe is far vaster than we can imaging, with more stars than we can conceive.

The galaxy featured here is interesting in its own right. Though it appears to be a spiral galaxy, its arms are very indistinct, suggesting that is sits between that of an elliptical galaxy (no arms, just a cloud of stars) and a spiral (with well-defined arms).

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Commercial hi-res Earth imaging satellite constellations limiting Gaza imagery to the public

9:16 am

Once Israel’s ground campaign into Gaza started the new American private commercial hi-res Earth imaging satellite constellation companies began restricting access to their imagery.

Planet, a San Francisco-based company launched in 2010 by former NASA scientists, has in recent days heavily restricted and obscured parts of images over the Gaza Strip for many users, including news organizations. Last week, some images of Gaza were removed from Planet’s web application for downloading imagery, and some have been distributed to interested media outlets through a Google Drive folder. The satellite company told some subscribers that during active conflicts, it may modify pictures published to the archive.

…Some commercial satellite companies appear to be releasing their detailed images — but with a time delay. Planet and a competitor, Maxar Technologies, have released images shared with the New York Times, Washington Post, and other news outlets on a significant time delay. Starting on Nov. 3, both papers shared exclusive images taken by Planet on Nov. 1. Airbus, another major commercial satellite image provider, has not shared images of Gaza.

It appears the companies have done so for two reasons: First, it appears these companies have actually decided they do not wish to reveal any information that might hurt Israel’s ground campaign. This approach differs significantly from the leftist mainstream American press, which either doesn’t care what harm it does, or is eager to sabotage Israel’s effort.

Second, it appears the companies have been reminded of a 1997 federal law, called the Kyl-Bingaman Amendment, that forbids the release of “imagery of Israel that’s at a higher resolution than what’s distributed by non-US companies.”

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Astra defaults on debt agreement

10:25 am

The rocket startup Astra revealed on Friday that it was unable to meet the requirements of one of its investors that it maintain at least $10.5 million in cash reserves, and thus defaulted on that debt agreement.

Astra twice last month failed to meet minimum cash reserve requirements associated with a $12.5 million note issuance to New Jersey investment group High Trail Capital.

The debt raise first required that Astra have “at least $15.0 million of cash and cash equivalents” on hand. That liquidity requirement was adjusted after Astra failed to prove compliance a first time, to require “at least $10.5 million of unrestricted, unencumbered cash and cash equivalents.” Having fallen out of compliance a second time, Astra now owes $8 million on the aggregate principal investment.

Sadly, it appears the end for this company is coming.

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SpaceX launches 23 Starlink with a 1st stage flying for a record-setting 18th time

5:46 pm

SpaceX today successfully launched 23 Starlink, its Falcon 9 rocket lifting off from Cape Canaveral and using a first stage flying for a record-setting 18th time.

The first stage landed successfully on its drone ship in the Atlantic.

The leaders in the 2023 launch race:

79 SpaceX
50 China
14 Russia
7 Rocket Lab
7 India

American private enterprise now leads China 91 to 50 in successful launches, and the entire world combined 91 to 79. SpaceX by itself is once again tied the rest of the world (excluding American companies) 79 to 79.

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November 3, 2023 Quick space links

3:08 pm

Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay.

 

 

  • Bezos is abandoning Seattle and moving to Florida

    • He says he wants to be closer to both his family and his Cape Canaveral space facilities in Florida, which as he says is “shifting increasingly to Cape Canaveral.” He also likely decided to get out because of a new state tax that will steal $70 million from him for every stock sale of $1 billion.

 

 

 

 

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Ingenuity completes very short 65th flight

2:31 pm

Overview map
Click for interactive map.

Ingenuity yesterday completed a very short 48 second flight that shifted its position only slightly to the west, by about 23 feet. The distance, time, and highest elevation (33 feet) matched the flight plan exactly.

The green dot on the overview map above indicates its present position, with the blue dot marking Perseverance’s location. This particular flight was so short that it actually fits entirely within that green dot. Furthermore, the helicopter’s next flight, scheduled for today as well, is intended to also only reposition the helicopter, but even less so, moving only two feet or so sideways while rising only ten feet.

It appears the engineering team is preparing the helicopter for the upcoming solar conjunction, when the Sun will be between the Earth and Mars and no communications will be possible for several weeks. Such conjunctions occur about every two years, with this one beginning on November 6th and lasting until November 29th. Getting the helicopter in the right spot during that down time will increase the chances for regaining communications afterward. Since Perseverance acts as a relay station, Ingenuity must get placed in a spot where there is a direct line of communications, blocked by no objects or intevening rise in land.

Note that all the Martian rovers and orbiters are preparing for conjunction right now.

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Mars geology that only makes sense by digging deeper

1:54 pm

Not-so baffling Martian geology
Click for original image.

Today’s cool image is a perfect example of why nothing in science research should ever be taken at face value, without digging a bit deeper. The picture to the right, rotated, cropped, reduced, and sharpened to post here, was taken on October 5, 2023 by the high resolution camera on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO).

First an important technical point. Though the electronics unit for one of the camera’s color filters is still not working — causing a blank strip down the center of all black & white images, the camera team has gotten around this problem by inserting in that strip other color filter data, thus creating a complete image as you see to the right. This work-around means that MRO’s capabilities, though showing signs of age, will continue almost as good as before.

As for the image itself, when I first looked at it, I was baffled by the striking contrast between the mottled and rough ground in the lower left, and the almost featureless and smooth terrain everywhere else. Why this sudden transition? What could cause it? That inexplicable contrast demanded I post it as a cool image.
» Read more

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Real pushback: “We won’t hire your bigots!” say 42 law firms to top universities

12:48 pm

A Nazi youth rally, little different than today's pro-Hamas demonstrations
A 1930s Nazi youth rally, little different than
today’s pro-Hamas demonstrations

Bring a gun to a knife fight: In a letter [pdf] sent out on November 1, 2023 to all the major law schools in the country, more than three dozen law firms made it very clear they will not hire students from those schools if action wasn’t taken against the rise of anti-Semitism on those college campuses.

Rather than summarize, I think it worthwhile to let the letter speak for itself:

Over the last several weeks, we have been alarmed at reports of anti-Semitic harassment,
vandalism and assaults on college campuses, including rallies calling for the death of Jews and the elimination of the State of Israel. Such anti-Semitic activities would not be tolerated at any of our firms. We also would not tolerate outside groups engaging in acts of harassment and threats of violence, as has also been occurring on many of your campuses.
» Read more

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China launches military satellite

12:13 pm

China today successfully launched a military satellite, its Long March 7 rocket lifting off from its coastal Wenchang spaceport.

As this launch was on the coast, the rocket’s lower stages likely landed in the ocean harmlessly.

The leaders in the 2023 launch race:

78 SpaceX
50 China
14 Russia
7 Rocket Lab
7 India

American private enterprise still leads China 90 to 50 in successful launches, and the entire world combined 90 to 79. SpaceX by itself is trails the rest of the world (excluding American companies) 78 to 79.

Hat tip to BtB’s stringer Jay for the link.

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Hubble snaps an ultra-violet view of Jupiter

9:59 am

Jupiter in ultra-violet

Cool image time! Using the Hubble Space Telescope, scientists have taken a false-color ultra-violet image of Jupiter. That picture is to the right, cropped, reduced and sharpened to post here.

This newly released image from the NASA Hubble Space Telescope shows the planet Jupiter in a color composite of ultraviolet wavelengths. Released in honor of Jupiter reaching opposition, which occurs when the planet and the Sun are in opposite sides of the sky, this view of the gas giant planet includes the iconic, massive storm called the “Great Red Spot.” Though the storm appears red to the human eye, in this ultraviolet image it appears darker because high altitude haze particles absorb light at these wavelengths. The reddish, wavy polar hazes are absorbing slightly less of this light due to differences in either particle size, composition, or altitude.

The data used to create this ultraviolet image is part of a Hubble proposal that looked at Jupiter’s stealthy superstorm system. The researchers plan to map deep water clouds using the Hubble data to define 3D cloud structures in Jupiter’s atmosphere.

By comparing this ultra-violet image with Hubble’s optical view as well as Webb’s infrared view, scientists can study Jupiter’s atmosphere much like meteologists study the Earth’s, using multi-wave satellite observations.

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Sierra Space: Tenacity is complete and ready for ground testing

9:50 am

Sierra Space announced yesterday that its reuseable Tenacity cargo freighter, the first of its Dream Chaser mini-shuttles, is now complete and ready shipment to NASA’s test facilities in Ohio for ground testing.

The spacecraft hopefully will fly next year. Though this is four years behind schedule, it signals an important milestone for the company, and suggests its operational pace will pick up afterward. Though its arrival comes very late in ISS’s lifespan, the coming arrival of many private space stations, including Sierra’s own, will likely provide it many customers.

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Musk: Starlink “has achieved breakeven cash flow”

9:45 am

In a tweet yesterday, Elon Musk revealed that Starlink “has achieved breakeven cash flow,” adding that “Starlink is also now a majority of all active satellites and will have launched a a majority of all satellites cumulatively from Earth by next year.”

This means that SpaceX achieved this goal using only its Falcon 9 rocket. Originally the company thought it had to have Starship to get enough satellites into orbit to operate the constellation. Because of delays in developing Starship (right now mostly caused by red tape in the federal government), the company ramped up the launch pace using just Falcon 9, and apparently got the job done.

The profits from Starlink can now be used to further develop Starship and Superheavy, assuming the federal government ever gets out of the way.

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Norway inaugurates its Andoya spaceport

9:39 am

Map of Norway showing Andoya

Norway yesterday announced the opening its new Andoya spaceport in the far north of the country, where it hopes will become a hub for the emerging new commercial launch industry.

The location is indicated by the map to the right, in the Arctic and farther north than any other planned spaceport, making it excellent for satellites going into polar orbit.

The launch base, which eventually will have several launch pads, was built by Norwegian public company Andoya Space, on a site which until now has only been used for firing suborbital scientific experiment rockets.

Spectrum, a two-stage craft capable of carrying up to one tonne and developed by the German start-up Isar Aerospace, is scheduled to be the first rocket to be launched from island which is located near the idyllic Lofoten archipelago.

If Norway’s government works better than Great Britain’s in issuing launch permits, this spaceport will steal all business from the UK’s own two spaceports being built in Scotland.

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Iceland signs Artemis Accords

9:29 am

Though no press announcement was ever released, it appears that Iceland signed the Artemis Accords sometime in October, according to small mention in the the press release announcing the signing of the Netherlands.

The mention was so small I missed it. In fact, so apparently did NASA, as Iceland did not issue its own press release. The U.S. likely found out about the signing through private diplomatic communications.

This brings the total number of nations now part of this American space alliance to thirty-one, as follows: Argentina, Australia, Bahrain, Brazil, Canada, Columbia, Czech Republic, Ecuador, France, Germany, India, Iceland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Nigeria, Poland, Romania, Rwanda, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, the United Kingdom, the United Arab Emirates, the Ukraine, and the United States.

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Lucy discovers second small asteroid orbiting Dinkinesh

9:15 am

Dinkinesh as seen by Lucy

During its November 1, 2023 fly-by of the asteroid Dinkinesh the asteroid probe Lucy surprisingly discovered that the asteroid was actually a binary, with a second smaller asteroid orbiting it.

The picture to the right, cropped, reduced, and sharpened to post here, was taken by Lucy’s camera within a minute of the probe’s closest approach of 270 miles. The second asteroid is partly blocked by Dinkinesh.

In the weeks prior to the spacecraft’s encounter with Dinkinesh, the Lucy team had wondered if Dinkinesh might be a binary system, given how Lucy’s instruments were seeing the asteroid’s brightness changing with time. The first images from the encounter removed all doubt. Dinkinesh is a close binary. From a preliminary analysis of the first available images, the team estimates that the larger body is approximately 0.5 miles (790 m) at its widest, while the smaller is about 0.15 miles (220 m) in size.

The nature of both asteroids appears to lie between a rubble pile (like Bennu) or a solid smooth rock (like Eros), suggesting we are now beginning to see aspects of the overall evolution of asteroids over time.

So far only a few images from this fly-by have been released. It will take a week for the rest of the data from the fly-by to beamed back to Earth. However, these images prove that the prime purpose of this fly-by was successful, proving that Lucy is operating as planned, able to point, manuever, and obtain its data during such a fly-by. When it arrives in the Trojan asteroids in 2027 it will be able to do its prime mission.

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