1,4,- 1Southwest Research Institute, Department of Space Studies, United States of America (stuart.robbins@swri.org)
- 2Lockheed Martin Space, Littleton, CO, United States of America
- 3Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA, United States of America
- 4NASA Goddard Spaceflight Center, Greenbelt, MD, United States of America
NASA’s Lucy mission [1] to the Trojan asteroids executed an engineering test flyby of asteroid (52246) Donaldjohanson on 20 April 2025. Data were gathered by all Lucy instruments, including the Lucy Long-Range Reconnaissance Imager (L’LORRI [2]), which is a panchromatic 1,024×1024 pixel framing camera. Data at up to a few meters per pixel revealed a bilobate body approximately 3–4 km at its widest and approximately 9 km long [3]. The larger lobe was observed at solar incidence angles more favorable to recognition of topographic features.
We have mapped the visible crater and boulder populations across the body. We will present the crater population in context with other small bodies, an investigation of crater population similarities or variations across Donaldjohanson, crater modification variations across the body in context with the gravity field, equilibrium population considerations, and a minimum model surface age. In addition, we will present data on the spatial distribution and size-frequency distribution of isolated topographic highs (nominally considered to be boulders) in comparison with boulders on other small bodies.
Acknowledgement: The Lucy mission is funded through the NASA Discovery program on contract No. NNM16AA08C.
References:
[1] Levison, H. and 24 co-authors (2021). Lucy Mission to the Trojan Asteroids: Science Goals. The Planetary Science Journal, v. 2, Issue 5, id. 171.
[2] Weaver, H.A. and 22 co-authors (2023). The Lucy Long Range Reconnaissance Imager (L'LORRI). Space Science Reviews, v. 219, article id 82.
[3] Mottola et al. (2025). Shape Reconstruction and Rotation State of Asteroid (52246) Donaldjohanson from Lucy Imaging and Ground-Based Photometry. This conference.
How to cite: Robbins, S., Marchi, S., Bierhaus, B., Scully, J., Bottke, W., Noll, K., Spencer, J., Levison, H., and Lucy Team, T.: The Crater and Boulder Populations of Asteroid (52246) Donaldjohanson, EPSC-DPS Joint Meeting 2025, Helsinki, Finland, 7–12 Sep 2025, EPSC-DPS2025-935, https://doi.org/10.5194/epsc-dps2025-935, 2025.
