Artists concept of Lucy spacecraft at Trojan asteroid. Credit: NASA
About an hour after launch, Lucy separated from the 2nd stage of the ULA Atlas V 401 rocket. Its two enormous solar varieties, each almost 24 feet (7.3 meters) large, successfully unfurled about 30 minutes later on and began charging the spacecrafts batteries to power its subsystems.
” Todays launch marks a real full-circle moment for me as Lucy was the first mission I approved in 2017, simply a few months after signing up with NASA,” stated Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator for the Science Mission Directorate at the companys Headquarters in Washington. “A true objective of discovery, Lucy is abundant with chance for more information about these mysterious Trojan asteroids and better understand the development and development of the early planetary system.”
Lucys Trojan locations are trapped near Jupiters Lagrange points– gravitationally stable areas in space associated with a worlds orbit where smaller masses can be caught. One swarm of Trojans is ahead of the gas giant world, and another lags it. The asteroids in Jupiters Trojan swarms are as far away from Jupiter as they are from the Sun.
The spacecrafts very first Earth gravity assist in 2022 will speed up and direct Lucys trajectory beyond the orbit of Mars. The spacecraft will then swing back toward Earth for another gravity assist in 2024, which will move Lucy toward the Donaldjohanson asteroid– situated within the planetary systems main asteroid belt– in 2025.
Lucy will then journey toward its first Trojan asteroid encounter in the swarm ahead of Jupiter for a 2027 arrival. After completing its first four targeted flybys, the spacecraft will take a trip back to Earth for a third gravity boost in 2031, which will catapult it to the routing swarm of Trojans for a 2033 encounter.
“Today we commemorate this extraordinary turning point and look forward to the new discoveries that Lucy will uncover,” stated Donya Douglas-Bradshaw, Lucy job supervisor at NASAs Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.
NASA Goddard offers general objective management, systems engineering, plus security and mission assurance. Lockheed Martin Space in Littleton, Colorado, constructed the spacecraft. Lucy is the 13th objective in NASAs Discovery Program. NASAs Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, manages the Discovery Program for the firm.
A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket with the Lucy spacecraft aboard is seen in this 2 minute and 30 second direct exposure photo as it releases from Space Launch Complex 41, Saturday, October 16, 2021, at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. Lucy will be the very first spacecraft to study Jupiters Trojan Asteroids. Like the missions namesake– the fossilized human ancestor, “Lucy,” whose skeleton supplied special insight into mankinds evolution– Lucy will reinvent our understanding of planetary origins and the development of the planetary system. Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls
NASAs Lucy objective, the firms very first to Jupiters Trojan asteroids, launched at 5:34 a.m. EDT Saturday on a United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V rocket from Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.
Over the next 12 years, Lucy will fly by one main-belt asteroid and 7 Trojan asteroids, making it the agencys very first single spacecraft mission in history to explore a lot of different asteroids. Lucy will examine these “fossils” of planetary development up close during its journey.
” Lucy embodies NASAs withstanding mission to press out into the cosmos for the sake of expedition and science, to much better comprehend the universe and our location within it,” said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson. “I cant wait to see what mysteries the objective reveals!”
Lucy sent its very first signal to Earth from its own antenna to NASAs Deep Space Network at 6:40 a.m. The spacecraft is now traveling at roughly 67,000 miles per hour (108,000 kph) on a trajectory that will orbit the Sun and bring it back toward Earth in October 2022 for a gravity assist.
Named for the fossilized skeleton of one of our earliest recognized hominin ancestors, the Lucy objective will allow researchers to explore two swarms of Trojan asteroids that share an orbit around the Sun with Jupiter. Scientific proof indicates that Trojan asteroids are residues of the product that formed huge planets. Studying them can reveal formerly unknown information about their formation and our planetary systems advancement in the very same way the fossilized skeleton of Lucy revolutionized our understanding of human evolution.
” We started working on the Lucy objective concept early in 2014, so this launch has been long in the making,” said Hal Levison, Lucy principal detective, based out of the Boulder, Colorado, branch of Southwest Research Institute (SwRI), which is headquartered in San Antonio. “It will still be numerous years before we get to the first Trojan asteroid, but these items deserve the wait and all the effort due to the fact that of their immense scientific worth. They resemble diamonds in the sky.”
A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket with the Lucy spacecraft aboard is seen in this 2 minute and 30 2nd direct exposure picture as it launches from Space Launch Complex 41, Saturday, October 16, 2021, at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. Lucy will be the very first spacecraft to study Jupiters Trojan Asteroids. Like the objectives name– the fossilized human forefather, “Lucy,” whose skeleton offered unique insight into humankinds evolution– Lucy will reinvent our understanding of planetary origins and the formation of the solar system. Named for the fossilized skeleton of one of our earliest recognized hominin forefathers, the Lucy objective will permit scientists to check out two swarms of Trojan asteroids that share an orbit around the Sun with Jupiter.” We began working on the Lucy mission idea early in 2014, so this launch has been long in the making,” stated Hal Levison, Lucy primary investigator, based out of the Boulder, Colorado, branch of Southwest Research Institute (SwRI), which is headquartered in San Antonio.
