Designing Lucy’s Path to the Trojan Asteroids

  • Released Tuesday, October 5th, 2021
  • Updated Wednesday, May 3rd, 2023 at 1:43PM
  • ID: 13948

Explore Lucy’s journey to one main-belt asteroid and seven Jupiter Trojans.

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Universal Production Music: “Ocean Simulation” & “The Sequencer Paradox” by Laetitia Frenod; “The Chess Game” by David James Elliott & Martin Gratton; “Tale of Time” by Markus Gleissner

Watch this video on the NASA Goddard YouTube channel.

Lucy is the first mission to explore the Jupiter Trojans – two swarms of asteroids that share Jupiter’s orbit, leading and trailing the giant planet by sixty degrees. These primitive bodies are thought to be the “fossils” of planet formation, trapped by Jupiter’s gravity at the dawn of the solar system. Now, NASA is sending Lucy on a winding, twelve-year-long path to visit one main-belt asteroid and seven Jupiter Trojans. Lucy will provide the first up-close look at these mysterious objects, helping scientists to better understand the evolution of the solar system.

Learn more about Lucy’s path to eight asteroids.

Asteroid Ryugu imagery provided by: JAXA Hayabusa 2

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NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center

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