Composed of silicate materials with potential clays and organic compounds, Donaldjohanson is thought to belong to the Erigone asteroid family.

Post-encounter, Lucy will reorient its solar arrays and re-establish communication with Earth, which will take about an hour after the flyby.

The asteroid is named after paleoanthropologist Donald Johanson, who discovered the fossil 'Lucy' in 1974, making it the only named asteroid visited while its namesake is still alive.

Tom Statler, the mission program scientist, expressed excitement about the potential discoveries that await from the encounter with Donaldjohanson.

Donaldjohanson is considered one of the youngest main belt asteroids, having formed about 150 million years ago from a collision.

NASA's Lucy spacecraft is preparing for its second asteroid encounter with the main belt asteroid Donaldjohanson, scheduled for April 20, 2025, at 1:51 PM EDT.

This flyby, part of a mission led by the Southwest Research Institute, will occur approximately 596 miles (960 km) from the asteroid.

Lucy's first encounter was with the asteroid Dinkinesh on November 1, 2023, which helped test its systems for future missions.

To protect its instruments from intense sunlight, Lucy will stop tracking the asteroid 40 seconds before closest approach, a precaution not taken during its previous encounter.

The upcoming flyby will allow scientists to study the asteroid's shape, surface geology, and cratering history to better understand its evolutionary processes.

During the encounter, Lucy will autonomously track Donaldjohanson and utilize all three of its science instruments: L'LORRI, L'Ralph, and L'TES.

This encounter serves as a critical rehearsal for Lucy's ongoing mission to explore multiple Trojan asteroids sharing Jupiter's orbit over the next decade.