Empire State Review Team 
NASA’s Historic Asteroid Sample Collection: Lucy’s Journey
NASA’s Lucy spacecraft has achieved a significant milestone by collecting samples from the asteroid Donaldjohanson, marking the first instance of gathering such materials from deep space.
The Mission Overview
Launched on October 16, 2021, from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida, Lucy’s mission is to explore the ancient asteroids associated with Jupiter. This ambitious journey allows scientists to enhance their understanding of the early solar system.
Close Encounter with Asteroid Donaldjohanson
On Easter Sunday, Lucy maneuvered approximately 600 miles above its target, the oblong-shaped asteroid Donaldjohanson, which is estimated to be around 150 million years old. This flyby provided NASA with its first set of close-up images of the asteroid, expanding our knowledge of these ancient celestial bodies.
Significance of the Findings
Following the successful flyby of Donaldjohanson, NASA’s team at the Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) in Boulder, Colorado, promptly shared the first images showcasing the asteroid’s intricate geology. Lucy’s Principal Investigator, Hal Levison, remarked, “Asteroid Donaldjohanson has strikingly complicated geology. As we study the complex structures in detail, they will reveal important information about the building blocks and collisional processes that formed the planets in our Solar System.”
Continuing the Journey
Lucy is set to proceed through the main asteroid belt, with plans to reach its first Trojan asteroid related to Jupiter by August 2027. The Trojan asteroids share Jupiter’s orbital path, offering additional opportunities for scientific insights into the materials that constitute our solar system’s giant planets.
A Legacy of Exploration
The asteroid Donaldjohanson was named in honor of Donald Johanson, the American paleoanthropologist who discovered the remains of Lucy, an important human ancestor found in Ethiopia in 1974. This connection underscores the thematic link between planetary science and the human story of evolution.
