Lucy Spacecraft Will Slingshot Around Earth

Related pages

• Related

  • 
    ID: 14224 Produced Video

    Lucy's Journey: Episode 7 - "Earth Gravity Assist"

    Oct. 11th, 2022
    (updated May 3rd, 2023)

    Episode 7 - "Earth Gravity Assist"Episode 7 in the Lucy's Journey Series.Watch this video on the NASA Goddard YouTube channel.Music is "Sky High" by Lee Mason, "The Strange Lady" by David Fanshawe and John Goldstone, "Spy Kids" by Josselin Bordat, and "Millennium Theme" by Chris Elliott of Universal Production Music. || Meet Lucy as she prepares for the first ever journey to the Trojan asteroids, a population of primitive small bodies orbiting in tandem with Jupiter. ||

    Read more
  • 
    ID: 13948 Produced Video

    Designing Lucy’s Path to the Trojan Asteroids

    Oct. 5th, 2021
    (updated May 3rd, 2023)

    Explore Lucy’s journey to one main-belt asteroid and seven Jupiter Trojans.Complete transcript available.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 GleissnerWatch 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 ||

    Read more

• Sources

  • 
    ID: 20372 Animation

    Lucy Earth Gravity Assist One: Animations

    Oct. 19th, 2022
    (updated May 3rd, 2023)

    NASA’s Lucy mission is heading to the Jupiter Trojans – two swarms of primitive asteroids trapped in Jupiter’s orbit that may hold clues to the formation of the planets. Lucy launched on October 16, 2021, spent a year in orbit around the Sun, and returned home on its launch anniversary for the first of three Earth gravity assists. The maneuver boosted Lucy’s speed and elongated its orbit around the Sun, setting it track for a second flyby of Earth in December 2024. This page provides artist concept animations depicting Lucy’s first Earth gravity assist.Learn more about Lucy's first Earth gravity assist. ||

    Read more
  • 
    ID: 5044 Visualization

    Lucy Earth Gravity Assist Trajectory Visualizations

    Oct. 13th, 2022
    (updated May 3rd, 2023)

    Ride-along view of Lucy’s first Earth gravity assist (EGA). The camera follows Lucy as the spacecraft approaches the sunlit side of Earth before crossing into Earth’s shadow as it slingshots around the planet. || NASA’s Lucy mission is heading to the Jupiter Trojans – two swarms of primitive asteroids trapped in Jupiter’s orbit that may hold clues to the formation of the planets. Lucy launched on October 16, 2021. After a year in orbit around the Sun, it is returning home on its launch anniversary for the first of three Earth gravity assists. On October 16, 2022, Lucy will fly by the Earth like a partner in a swing dance, boosting its speed and elongating its orbit around the Sun. At 7:04 am, Eastern Time, Lucy will make its closest approach at just 219 miles above the planet: lower than the International Space Station. This exceptionally close shave will increase its velocity by four-and-a-half miles per second, setting Lucy on track to gain even more speed when it returns to Earth for a second gravity assist in December 2024. ||

    Read more
  • 
    ID: 4943 Visualization

    Lucy Mission Trajectory 'Over-the-Shoulder' Views

    Sept. 28th, 2021
    (updated May 3rd, 2023)

    This visualization is a view from the Lucy spacecraft as it travels through the solar system, represented in a Jupiter-rotating reference frame. In this reference frame, Jupiter appears fixed in space. This visualization spans from launch through the flyby of the main belt asteroid DonaldJohanson. (Part 1 of 3) || Lucy will be the first space mission to study the Trojans asteroids - two loose groups of asteroids that orbit the Sun, with one group always ahead of Jupiter in its path, the other always behind. These primitive bodies hold vital clues to deciphering the history of the solar system, and perhaps even the origins of life and organic material on Earth.Lucy will launch in October 2021 and, with boosts from Earth's gravity, will complete a twelve-year journey to eight different asteroids — a Main Belt asteroid and seven Jupiter Trojans, the last two members of a “two-for-the-price-of-one” binary system. Lucy’s complex path will take it to both clusters of Trojans and give us our first close-up view of all three major types of bodies in the swarms (so-called C-, P- and D-types).These visualizations give an 'over-the-shoulder' view of Lucy as the spacecraft travels through the solar system. ||

    Read more
  • 
    ID: 20346 Animation

    Lucy Deployment Animations

    Sept. 15th, 2021
    (updated May 3rd, 2023)

    Animation showing Lucy spacecraft being released, deploying it's solar arrays and starting it's journey towards the trojan asteroids. || These animations show the Lucy spacecraft right after stage one seperations and follow it through fairing seperation, release from the Centaur module, solar panel deployment and main engine burn. || Fairing seperation from the Atlas V and Lucy spacecraft release || Lucy spacecraft solar arrays deploying and main engine burn || Lucy in transit || Lucy Solar Arrays deployment Camera 1 ||

    Read more
  • 
    ID: 4719 Visualization

    Lucy mission trajectory

    Oct. 21st, 2019
    (updated Aug. 25th, 2023)

    Jupiter's swarms of Trojan asteroids may be remnants of the primordial material that formed the outer planets, and serve as time capsules from the birth of our Solar System more than 4 billion years ago. The Trojans orbit in two loose groups that orbit the Sun, with one group always ahead of Jupiter in its path, the other always behind. At these two Lagrange points the bodies are stabilized by the Sun and Jupiter in a gravitational balancing act. These primitive bodies hold vital clues to deciphering the history of the solar system, and perhaps even the origins of life and organic material on Earth.Lucy will be the first space mission to study the Trojans. The mission takes its name from the fossilized human ancestor (called “Lucy” by her discoverers) whose skeleton provided unique insight into humanity's evolution. Likewise, the Lucy mission will revolutionize our knowledge of planetary origins and the formation of the solar system.Lucy will launch in October 2021 and, with boosts from Earth's gravity, will complete a twelve-year journey to eight different asteroids — a Main Belt asteroid and seven Jupiter Trojans, the last two members of a “two-for-the-price-of-one” binary system. Lucy’s complex path will take it to both clusters of Trojans and give us our first close-up view of all three major types of bodies in the swarms (so-called C-, P- and D-types). ||

    Read more