By NASA
September 26, 2021
This diagram illustrates Lucys orbital course. The spacecrafts path (green) is displayed in a frame of recommendation where Jupiter stays stationary, providing the trajectory its pretzel-like shape. After launch in October 2021, Lucy has 2 close Earth flybys before experiencing its Trojan targets. In the L4 cloud Lucy will zip (3548) Eurybates (white) and its satellite, (15094) Polymele (pink), (11351) Leucus (red), and (21900) Orus (red) from 2027-2028. After diving previous Earth again Lucy will go to the L5 cloud and experience the (617) Patroclus-Menoetius binary (pink) in 2033. As a bonus, in 2025 on the method to the L4, Lucy zips a little Main Belt asteroid, (52246) Donaldjohanson (white), called for the originator of the Lucy fossil. After zipping the Patroclus-Menoetius binary in 2033, Lucy will continue biking between the 2 Trojan clouds every six years.
Artists idea of Lucy spacecraft at Trojan asteroid. Credit: NASA
Time capsules from the birth of our Solar System more than 4 billion years back, the swarms of Trojan asteroids associated with Jupiter are thought to be remnants of the prehistoric product that formed the outer planets. The Trojans orbit the Sun in two loose groups, with one group leading ahead of Jupiter in its course, the other tracking behind.
NASAs Lucy will be the very first space mission to study the Trojans. The mission takes its name from the fossilized human forefather (called “Lucy” by her discoverers) whose skeleton supplied special insight into humankinds evolution. Also, the Lucy objective will change our knowledge of planetary origins and the formation of the solar system.
This diagram illustrates Lucys orbital path. Credit: Southwest Research Institute
Lucy is slated to launch in October 2021 and, with increases from Earths gravity, will finish a 12-year journey to 8 various asteroids– a Main Belt asteroid and 7 Trojans, four of which are members of “two-for-the-price-of-one” double stars. Lucys complex course will take it to both clusters of Trojans and give us our first close-up view of all three major kinds of bodies in the swarms (so-called C-, P- and D-types).
NASAs Lucy will be the very first area objective to study the Trojans. After launch in October 2021, Lucy has two close Earth flybys prior to experiencing its Trojan targets. As a bonus offer, in 2025 on the way to the L4, Lucy flies by a small Main Belt asteroid, (52246) Donaldjohanson (white), called for the discoverer of the Lucy fossil. After flying by the Patroclus-Menoetius binary in 2033, Lucy will continue biking in between the 2 Trojan clouds every six years.