NASA probe set to uncover secrets of mysterious asteroid: ‘We don’t know what to expect’

NASA’s space-faring probe Lucy is set have a close encounter with an oddly shaped asteroid more than 100 million miles from Earth — and scientists aren’t sure what they’re going to find.

The spacecraft is expected to fly by the asteroid Donaldjohanson on Sunday afternoon and begin sending back the first clear images of the space rock that’s been alternately described as a “snowman” and a “bowling pin.”

The out-of-this-world rock — believed to be a shard from an ancient collision — is about 2.5 miles in length and much smaller around.

The NASA space probe Lucy is cruising more than 100 million miles from Earth on a journey it will never return from. AP

“We don’t know what to expect. That’s what makes this so cool,” said the project’s lead scientist, Hal Levison of Southwest Research Institute.

“It’s not going to be a basic potato. We already know that,” he said, explaining Donaldjohnson may even turn out to be two asteroids in a binary orbit.

With the flyby happening about 139 million miles from Earth, images and data collected by Lucy likely won’t be fully recorded until Monday, as every bit of information takes about 12 minutes to transmit home.

Lucy will pass about 596 miles from the surface of Donaldjohanson, which is drifting in an asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.

The encounter with Donaldjohanson is just a dress rehearsal for Lucy’s main performance — visiting the Trojan asteroids, a massive field of rocks that follow Jupiter as it circles the sun.

The asteroid Dinkinesh and the tiny moon orbiting it was discovered by Lucy during a 2023 flyby. AP

Lucy is expected to encounter 11 asteroids in total during its journey, then spend the rest of its days drifting about the solar system equipped with a golden plaque bearing information about modern society for any future civilizations that may find it.

Before Donaldjohanson, Lucy had an encounter with the small asteroid Dinkinesh in 2023, which was found to have a tiny moon orbiting it.

The asteroid in Sunday’s visit is named after paleontologist Donald Johanson, who discovered the bones of a distant human ancestor — an australopithecus afarensis from about 3 millions years ago — in Ethiopia 50 years ago. Those remains were dubbed Lucy.

Johanson will join teams at Mission Control for Sunday’s flyby.

With Post wires