NASA’s Lucy Probe to Fire Engines in Space for First Time Written 31 January 2024

SPACE reports that NASA’s asteroid-hopping Lucy mission “is finally getting fired up in space for its trip to the never-before-explored Trojan asteroids, which follow Jupiter as it orbits the sun.” On Wednesday (Jan. 31), the Lucy spacecraft “will fire its main engines off-Earth for the first time since its launch in Aug. 2021.” The firing of Lucy’s main engines “will see the spacecraft burn through around half of its onboard fuel.” This will be “followed by a second, larger maneuver, which NASA says is currently set for Saturday (Feb. 3).” The aim “of these two early 2024 operations is to change Lucy’s velocity by around 2,000 miles per hour (3,217 kilometers per hour).”
Full Story (SPACE)