1 00:00:01,000 --> 00:00:05,000 [slate] 2 00:00:05,000 --> 00:00:09,000 [slate] 3 00:00:09,000 --> 00:00:13,000 [slate] The Trojan asteroids which 4 00:00:13,000 --> 00:00:17,000 are located in these Goldie-Locks zones of 5 00:00:17,000 --> 00:00:21,000 gravity-stable orbits, in between the sun 6 00:00:21,000 --> 00:00:25,000 and Jupiter are really left-over fossils 7 00:00:25,000 --> 00:00:29,000 from the formation of the solar system. 8 00:00:29,000 --> 00:00:33,000 And these fossils are around 4 billion years old. And when 9 00:00:33,000 --> 00:00:37,000 the solar system was forming they were brought into these locations and 10 00:00:37,000 --> 00:00:41,000 the Trojan asteroids which have been there since the formation 11 00:00:41,000 --> 00:00:45,000 of the solar system, are these last unexplored 12 00:00:45,000 --> 00:00:49,000 remnants from the cosmic neighborhood 13 00:00:49,000 --> 00:00:53,000 creation. And we’re extremely excited to go and visit them because of our 14 00:00:53,000 --> 00:00:57,000 total lack of understanding of exactly what is out there. And so it’s going to be 15 00:00:57,000 --> 00:01:01,000 extremely exciting when the Lucy spacecraft explores them. 16 00:01:01,000 --> 00:01:05,000 [slate] 17 00:01:05,000 --> 00:01:09,000 A comet is really that dirty snowball. It's 18 00:01:09,000 --> 00:01:13,000 kind of ice and rock all mixed together 19 00:01:13,000 --> 00:01:17,000 moving throughout the solar system. Really moving around and as it gets closer 20 00:01:17,000 --> 00:01:21,000 to the sun and heats up it boils off and that’s when you get those really beautiful 21 00:01:21,000 --> 00:01:25,000 tails that come off of the comets themselves. 22 00:01:25,000 --> 00:01:29,000 And as they move through the solar system they get hot and they get cold 23 00:01:29,000 --> 00:01:33,000 and they keep going. An asteroid really is just a rock. 24 00:01:33,000 --> 00:01:37,000 And it’s a mostly silicas, metals and things like that. 25 00:01:37,000 --> 00:01:41,000 Although it might seem relatively boring compared to a comet, 26 00:01:41,000 --> 00:01:45,000 these asteroids can be fossils that just hold 27 00:01:45,000 --> 00:01:49,000 all kinds of stories of where they came from, how they were formed 28 00:01:49,000 --> 00:01:53,000 and what materials are actually in these different 29 00:01:53,000 --> 00:01:57,000 portions of the solar system. 30 00:01:57,000 --> 00:02:01,000 [slate] 31 00:02:01,000 --> 00:02:05,000 These asteroids represent the fragments leftover from the 32 00:02:05,000 --> 00:02:09,000 formation of the outer planets. It’s going to give us those key insights 33 00:02:09,000 --> 00:02:13,000 into how the outer planets formed at the very beginning of our solar system. 34 00:02:13,000 --> 00:02:17,000 What we really want to find out is what building blocks or materials 35 00:02:17,000 --> 00:02:21,000 are in these particular asteroids because that will tell us 36 00:02:21,000 --> 00:02:25,000 what materials, building blocks, the things that were available to create 37 00:02:25,000 --> 00:02:29,000 those outer planets. And that’s just going to vastly increase our knowledge 38 00:02:29,000 --> 00:02:33,000 and understanding of how our outer planets were formed and consequently 39 00:02:33,000 --> 00:02:37,000 how we as a cosmic and solar system neighborhood really came 40 00:02:37,000 --> 00:02:41,000 to be into our own. 41 00:02:41,000 --> 00:02:45,000 [slate] 42 00:02:45,000 --> 00:02:49,000 These Trojan asteroids, which are out in the outskirts of the 43 00:02:49,000 --> 00:02:53,000 solar system itself, are going to give us different clues. 44 00:02:53,000 --> 00:02:57,000 These different clues really will tell us about the formation of our outer planets. 45 00:02:57,000 --> 00:03:01,000 So from Earth, we can see really grainy pictures with our very 46 00:03:01,000 --> 00:03:05,000 large telescopes and Earth observation equipment. 47 00:03:05,000 --> 00:03:09,000 And so when we’re going to get up close and personal, multiple times with multiple 48 00:03:09,000 --> 00:03:13,000 Trojan asteroids with our Lucy spacecraft, 49 00:03:13,000 --> 00:03:17,000 we’re going to gain some key insights as to what materials are in these Trojan 50 00:03:17,000 --> 00:03:21,000 asteroids. What building blocks did we have available to us as a solar system 51 00:03:21,000 --> 00:03:25,000 when we formed our outer planets. And it’s going to fully develop 52 00:03:25,000 --> 00:03:25,000 our understanding of how our solar system was created. 53 00:03:25,000 --> 00:03:29,000 54 00:03:29,000 --> 00:03:33,000 [slate] 55 00:03:33,000 --> 00:03:37,000 [slate] What 56 00:03:37,000 --> 00:03:41,000 I’m most excited about for the Lucy mission, having worked on the Lucy 57 00:03:41,000 --> 00:03:45,000 mission since the very beginning. Being the one that 58 00:03:45,000 --> 00:03:49,000 designed the first part, released that first drawing. I worked on the very first 59 00:03:49,000 --> 00:03:53,000 pieces that hit the production floor, and I was there 60 00:03:53,000 --> 00:03:57,000 for the last pieces of tape on the spacecraft as we encapsulated it and sent it out 61 00:03:57,000 --> 00:04:01,000 on its rocket. I’m most excited for when we launch 62 00:04:01,000 --> 00:04:05,000 and our spacecraft has fully deployed solar arrays and it’s nominally 63 00:04:05,000 --> 00:04:09,000 healthy, out in space, ready to start its journey. 64 00:04:09,000 --> 00:04:13,000 [slate] 65 00:04:13,000 --> 00:04:17,000 I cannot wait for those gorgeous images that our 66 00:04:17,000 --> 00:04:21,000 instruments are going to take and bring back to Earth. What that’s going to tell me 67 00:04:21,000 --> 00:04:25,000 and the world is how gorgeous these objects 68 00:04:25,000 --> 00:04:29,000 are. What secrets they have to hold and it’s going start us 69 00:04:29,000 --> 00:04:33,000 unlocking these mysteries of the solar system that are out there. I 70 00:04:33,000 --> 00:04:37,000 can’t wait and words can’t describe just how excited I am to share with everyone 71 00:04:37,000 --> 00:04:41,000 these images when they first come back. 72 00:04:41,000 --> 00:04:45,000 [slate] 73 00:04:45,000 --> 00:04:49,000 You can follow along on the NASA social media as we 74 00:04:49,000 --> 00:04:53,000 bring back exciting science and update everyone about how the mission is going, 75 00:04:53,000 --> 00:04:57,000 If you are a undergraduate college student you can join 76 00:04:57,000 --> 00:05:01,000 the L’Space Academy and really understand how these missions go from 77 00:05:01,000 --> 00:05:05,000 paper to reality. Understands requirements writing and really 78 00:05:05,000 --> 00:05:09,000 get the details of how these missions fly to the stars. 79 00:05:09,000 --> 00:05:13,000 [slate] 80 00:05:13,000 --> 00:05:17,000 Go 81 00:05:17,000 --> 00:05:22,860 Atlas, Go Centaur, Go Lucy - the first mission to the Trojan 82 00:05:22,860 --> 00:05:22,859 asteroids.