INTRODUCTION
- On October 16, 2021, NASA will launch Lucy, the first mission to explore Jupiter’s Trojan asteroids. The Lucy spacecraft will be launched from Florida’s Cape Canaveral Space Force Station aboard an Atlas V rocket.
- Although NASA’s Juno spacecraft has been circling Jupiter since 2016, the Lucy probe will be the first NASA mission to explore the Trojan asteroids, which orbit the Sun in two swarms, one of them ahead of Jupiter and the other one behind it.
GOAL OF LUCY MISSION –
- The spacecraft will embark on a 12-year mission to assist scientists in getting a closer look at the Trojan asteroids. The study of Jupiter’s Trojan asteroids will aid scientists in their understanding of how the Solar System and its planets originated around 4.5 billion years ago, as well as why they ended up in the current order.
- Lucy is a spaceship that will go approximately 4 billion kilometres. The Trojan asteroids’ geology, physical characteristics, and surface composition will be studied by the Lucy spacecraft and a remote-sensing device. The Lucy spacecraft will make its maiden asteroid flyby in 2025. Between 2027 and 2033, the seven additional Trojan asteroids are predicted to collide.
- The Lucy expedition was named after a recently found fragmentary skeleton of a human ancestor who lived more than 3 million years ago. Lucy was the name given to the fossilised remains. According to NASA, the Lucy expedition to Trojan asteroids will contribute to understanding the planetary origins and creation of the Solar System, including Earth, just as the Lucy fossil remains did for human evolution.
TROJAN ASTEROIDS –
- The Trojan asteroids are named after Greek mythological figures. They travel in two swarms around the Sun, one ahead of Jupiter and the other behind it. These asteroids were created from the remnants of the primordial material that gave rise to Jupiter and the other outer planets.
