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As the Lucy spacecraft travels on its more than 6-billion-kilometer journey to explore the Jupiter trojan asteroids, NASA revealed that it is adding a new target.
As per news reports, on November 1, 2023, Lucy will examine the new target, a tiny main-belt asteroid, up close in order to test the spacecraft's asteroid-tracking navigation system.
Due to its modest size, the asteroid (152830) 1999 VD57 was not previously a target. According to NASA, 1999 VD57 will be the smallest main belt asteroid ever visited by a spacecraft, measuring barely 700 metres in size.
The asteroid is larger than the previously explored main belt and the asteroids visited by the DART and OSIRIS-REx missions.
Honestly, I am excited for the results!