NASA's Lucy spacecraft on Wednesday encountered the first of 10 asteroids on its long journey to Jupiter.

The spacecraft on Wednesday swooped past the pint-sized Dinkinesh, about 300 million miles (480 million kilometers) away in the main asteroid belt beyond Mars. It was "a quick hello," according to NASA, with the spacecraft zooming by at 10,000 mph (16,000 kph).

Lucy came within 270 miles (435 kilometers) of Dinkinesh, testing its instruments in a dry run for the bigger and more alluring asteroids ahead.

Landing stably is a precondition for exploring a small celestial body in situ. The surface of a small celestial body frequently has weak gravity and is irregular, and the surface environment is unknown and uncertain. The landing mechanism tends to rebound and turn over, and the landing stability time is long. However, while most landing performance research has focused on lunar landing, there are differences between the surfaces of the moon and Mars.

Therefore, it important to study landing performance in different conditions in order to analyze the landing stability boundary, and to propose reasonable landing suggestions to support China's small celestial body exploration.

In a research article recently published in Space: Science & Technology, researchers from Beijing Institute of Spacecraft System Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology, and Polytechnic University of Milan have established a simulation model of a landing mechanism under different landing conditions, analyzed the sensitivity of the key parameters affecting the landing performance, and verified correctness of the simulation via experimental tests, which can provide guidance for a landing mechanism to land stably on a small celestial body.

The Space Force is giving a nearly even share of 21 upcoming national security launches between SpaceX and United Launch Alliance.

Space Systems Command, which manages a $15 billion budget for the Department of Defense to ensure U.S. strategic advantage in space, announced ULA will provide 11 missions on its new Vulcan Centaur rocket while SpaceX will be responsible for 10 missions on its Falcon 9 or Falcon Heavy rockets as part of the National Security Space Launch (NSSL) Phase 2 Launch Service Procurement contract for fiscal year 2024, which began on Oct. 1.

This is the fifth and final year of the NSSL Phase 2 contract, and will be for missions flown over the next two to three years. The majority of launches will come from ULA and SpaceX's launch facilities at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, although Falcon Heavy launches if required are limited to Kennedy Space Center, and both ULA and SpaceX can launch from Vandenburg Space Force Base in California.

"Over the five-year Phase 2 contract, we will have ordered a total of 48 missions, a significant increase over the 34 missions originally estimated leading up to Phase 2," said Brig.