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NASA’s Lucy spacecraft launch window opens in the early hours of Saturday, October 16. Here’s what you need to know about happiness Missions and how you can watch the launch live online.
Lucy is packed and ready to go. The unmanned spacecraft is now aboard the United Launch Alliance Atlas V 401 rocket, as the scientific community eagerly awaits the start of an unprecedented mission to the Trojan asteroid Jupiter. Hopefully, Lucy will spend the next 12 years checking A record number of asteroids, none of which have ever been explored.
watch launch lYves Son line
NASA hopes to launch Lucy on Saturday, October 165:34 a.m. EDT (02.34 PDT). The launch window will remain open until November 5, providing plenty of room to maneuver in case of bad weather or otherwise Postpone. Coverage will begin at 5:00 EST (2:00 PDT), which you can watch NASA TV, NS NASA application, or in the video embedded below.
Atlas V missile is going up turn off From Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. Lucy won’t go straight to the Trojans, as she needs to make two passes to land, the first in 2022 and the second in 2024, to increase attractiveness.
Lucy will never really go to Jupiter
For this $981 million mission, Lucy is not going anywhere near Jupiter. The Jupiter Trojan asteroid orbits the sun in two loose but visible masses, one ahead of Jupiter’s orbital path and the other behind it. These asteroids are grouped together at two Lagrangian points, where the distances to Jupiter and the Sun are roughly the same. Trojan asteroid stuck in stable orbit and hereI’ve been like this for billions of years – a very good thing, From a scientific point of view.
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During to interview With NASA, pLead researcher Hal Levison of the Southwest Research Institute described the Trojans as “a planet-forming fossil.” The remaining TrojansFrom the earliest days in the solar system, so by studying these ancient objects, scientists will better understand the processes that transport organic matter and water to Earth – the building blocks of life.
It’s called a fossil
It’s natural Lucy I . spaceshipNamed after the famous Australopithecine fossil discovered in 1974. Named by NASA explain, the ancient skeleton “provides unique insight into the evolution of mankind,” and also, “Lucy’s mission will revolutionize our knowledge of the origins of planets and the formation of the solar system.” SThe etymologists are The Lucy fossil is named after the Beatles song, “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds,” which makes the spaceship’s name more appropriate..
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again More goals than any other space mission
Lucy has a big mission ahead, as she will be visiting one asteroid in the main belt between Jupiter and Mars and seven Trojan asteroids. No other space mission in history has visited so many celestial bodies in independent orbits around the Sun.
Traveling at an average speed of 39,000 mph (63,000 km/h), the 52-foot probe will visit asteroid Donaldjohansen in the main belt before reaching the Trojans. Starting in 2027, Lucy will visit Eurybates and his duet partner Queta, followed by Polymele, Leucus and Orus and the duo partner Patroclus and Menoetius. Lucy is going on a trip to Both are Trojans, located 500 million miles (800 million km) from the Sun.
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Lucy will study three different types of asteroids: C.and P and D. Type C asteroids are common in the outer world of the main belt, while type P and D asteroids are reminiscent of icy Kuiper Belt objects from outside Neptune’s orbit. All Trojans are believed to contain high levels From dark carbon compounds to lots of water and other volatile compounds.
Expect high resolution images
Lucy’s Long Range Reconnaissance Imager, or L’LORRI, will allow the probe to take high-resolution images of the asteroid. Even at a projected distance of 620 miles (1,000 km), Lucy can still capture small details and features, including an elephant-sized crater.
Using her onboard instruments, Lucy will map the surface geology of each asteroid, study the composition and color of the surface, determine the mass and density of each object, and search for never-before-seen pairs and rings.
Lucy brings a message from humanity
A private plate Come for a ride. In addition to the diagrams of the planets of our solar system, the painting contains messages from key 20th century thinkers, including Albert Einstein, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Carl Sagan.
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Excerpts from contemporary writers and poets are also included, including contributions from Rita Dove, Joy Harjo, and Amanda Gorman, who read the original poem at President Joe Biden’s inauguration. Gorman’s poem reads as follows:
Remember the earth whose skin you are: red earth, black earth, yellow earth, white earth, brown earth, we are the earth.
Remember the plant, tree and animal life that has its own tribe, family and history.
Remember that you are all people and everyone is you. Remember that you are this universe and this universe is you.
to remember.
investigate for ages
When the initial mission ends in 2033, Lucy will remain in a stable orbit around the Sun. The spaceship will probably still be operational after thatAnd Maybe visit more asteroids. But it will persist, “passing through alternating hordes of Trojans for hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of years,” according to NASA.
It all started on Saturday, assuming everything All went well with the launch.
again: A study suggests that last-minute nuclear missiles to destroy incoming asteroids might actually work.
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