The planetary system is populated with asteroids as different as our planets. The primary asteroid belt, situated in between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter, is house to many various types of space rocks. A brand-new mission called Lucy will quickly launch to study a group of asteroids that has yet to be studied up close: the Trojans.The Trojans arent quite like the rocks discovered in the asteroid belt. They are all remnants from the development of the planetary system. Whereas the asteroid belt rocks have a huge variety of reflectiveness, or albedo, the Trojans tend to be mostly non-reflective rocks. Trojans likewise differ because they orbit farther away from the sun, near Jupiters orbit. NASAs Lucy mission is scheduled to introduce on Oct. 16, 2021, to study these unique area rocks. The mission will be powered by solar panels and is geared up with 4 instruments that can observe the albedo, temperature and surface features of the asteroids it will visit. Lucy is set up to visit 8 asteroids: one main belt rock and 7 Trojans. Learn more about each of these targets in this countdown!
(Image credit: NASA Goddard/YouTube).