NASA's Lucy Spacecraft Is Speeding toward Another Close Encounter with an Asteroid

 This image from video animation provided by NASA in October 2022 depicts the Lucy spacecraft. (NASA via AP)
This image from video animation provided by NASA in October 2022 depicts the Lucy spacecraft. (NASA via AP)
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NASA's Lucy Spacecraft Is Speeding toward Another Close Encounter with an Asteroid

 This image from video animation provided by NASA in October 2022 depicts the Lucy spacecraft. (NASA via AP)
This image from video animation provided by NASA in October 2022 depicts the Lucy spacecraft. (NASA via AP)

NASA’s Lucy spacecraft will swoop past a small asteroid this weekend as it makes its way to an even bigger prize: the unexplored swarms of asteroids out near Jupiter.

It will be the second asteroid encounter for Lucy, launched in 2021 on a quest that will take it to 11 space rocks. The close approaches should help scientists better understand our early solar system when planets were forming; asteroids are the ancient leftovers.

The upcoming flyby is a dress rehearsal for 2027 when Lucy reaches its first so-called Trojan asteroid near Jupiter.

Cranking up its three science instruments, the spacecraft on Sunday will observe the harmless asteroid known as Donaldjohanson. The encounter will take place 139 million miles (223 million kilometers) from Earth in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, so far away it will take 12 minutes for each bit of data to reach flight controllers in Colorado.

The paleontologist for whom the asteroid is named plans to be at spacecraft builder and operator Lockheed Martin’s Mission Control for all the action. He discovered the fossil Lucy in Ethiopia 50 years ago; the spacecraft is named after the famous human ancestor.

NASA’s Lucy will venture as close as 596 miles (960 kilometers) to this asteroid, an estimated 2 ½ miles (4 kilometers) in length but much shorter in width. Scientists should have a better idea of its size and shape following the brief visit. The spacecraft will zoom by at more than 30,000 mph (48,000 kph).

The asteroid is among countless fragments believed to have resulted from a major collision 150 million years ago.

“It's not going to be a basic potato. We already know that,” said lead scientist Hal Levison of Southwest Research Institute.

Rather, Levison said the asteroid may resemble a bowling pin or even a snowman like Arrokoth, the Kuiper Belt object visited by NASA's New Horizon spacecraft in 2019. The other possibility is that there are two elongated but separate asteroids far apart.

“We don’t know what to expect. That’s what makes this so cool,” he said.

There will be no communications with Lucy during the flyby as the spacecraft turns its antenna away from Earth in order to track the asteroid. Levison expects to have most of the science data within a day.

Lucy’s next stop — “the main event,” as Levison calls it — will be the Trojan asteroids that share Jupiter’s orbit around the sun. Swarms of Trojans precede and follow the solar system’s largest planet as it circles the sun. Lucy will visit eight of them from 2027 through 2033, some of them in pairs of two.

Lucy’s first asteroid flyby was in 2023 when it swept past little Dinkinesh, also in the main asteroid belt. The spacecraft discovered a mini moon around it.



Maldives President Holds Record 15-hour Press Conference

This handout photograph taken and released by the Maldives President Office on May 3, 2025 shows Maldives President Mohamed Muizzu speaking during a marathon press conference in Male. (Photo by Maldives President Office / AFP)
This handout photograph taken and released by the Maldives President Office on May 3, 2025 shows Maldives President Mohamed Muizzu speaking during a marathon press conference in Male. (Photo by Maldives President Office / AFP)
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Maldives President Holds Record 15-hour Press Conference

This handout photograph taken and released by the Maldives President Office on May 3, 2025 shows Maldives President Mohamed Muizzu speaking during a marathon press conference in Male. (Photo by Maldives President Office / AFP)
This handout photograph taken and released by the Maldives President Office on May 3, 2025 shows Maldives President Mohamed Muizzu speaking during a marathon press conference in Male. (Photo by Maldives President Office / AFP)

Maldives President Mohamed Muizzu addressed a press conference for nearly 15 hours, his office said on Sunday, claiming it broke a previous record held by Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky.
Muizzu, 46, began the marathon press conference at 10:00 am (0500 GMT) on Saturday, and it continued for 14 hours and 54 minutes with brief pauses for prayers, his office said in a statement.
"The conference extended past midnight -- a new world record by a president -- with President Muizzu continuously responding to questions from journalists," the statement said.
In October 2019, Ukraine's National Records Agency claimed that Zelensky's 14-hour press conference had broken an earlier record of over seven hours held by Belarusian strongman Alexander Lukashenko, AFP said.
The government of the Indian Ocean archipelago said Muizzu's extended session was also intended to coincide with World Press Freedom Day on Saturday.
"He acknowledged the crucial role of the press in society and emphasized the importance of factual, balanced, and impartial reporting," the statement added.
During the lengthy session, Muizzu also responded to questions submitted by members of the public via journalists.
The statement said Muizzu, who came to power in 2023, was also marking his island nation's rise by two places to 104th out of 180 countries in the 2025 World Press Freedom Index, published by Reporters Without Borders (RSF).
During Saturday's session, he answered a wide range of questions, the statement said.
Around two dozen reporters attended and were served food.
A predecessor of Muizzu set another world record by holding the first-ever underwater cabinet meeting in 2009, to highlight the threat of rising sea levels that could swamp the low-lying nation.
Former president Mohamed Nasheed plunged into the Indian Ocean followed by his ministers, all in scuba gear, for a nationally televised meeting.
The Maldives is on the frontline of the battle against global warming, which could raise sea levels and swamp the nation of 1,192 tiny coral islands scattered across the equator.