NASA launches Lucy mission to study Jupiter's Trojan asteroids - IT Pro - News

NASA has successfully launched an unmanned spacecraft that will study the asteroids around Jupiter. The mission, named Lucy, will last twelve years and involve three gravity assists to achieve his goal.

The launch took place on Saturday, at 5:34 AM local time and 11:34 AM Dutch time. The rocket, a ULA Atlas V 401, lifted off from Space Launch Complex 41, at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida. Lucy orbits the sun and returns around October of next year for a gravity assist near Earth, followed by another gravity assist around Earth in 2024, after which it will actually travel to Jupiter and close up the Donaldjohanson asteroid. will view. That is expected to happen in 2025.

The Donaldjohanson asteroid is the first stop, followed by the Trojan asteroids. These do not orbit Jupiter, but share Jupiter’s orbit around the sun. Lucy will meet Lucy for the first time in 2027. after four flybys with the Trojans there will be a third gravity boost in 2031 and in 2033 Lucy will take a closer look at the Trojans again.

NASA describes the asteroids as ‘time capsules’ from the birth of our solar system more than four billion years ago. The asteroids may have been made of the same “primordial material” that make up the outer planets. Although it takes a long time for Lucy to actually study them, say Mission Head Hal Levison: “These objects are worth the wait and every effort because of their immense scientific value. They are like diamonds in the sky.”

Lucy is the first mission to study the Trojans, and according to NASA, no other space mission has ever had so many different destinations in their own orbits around the sun.