Launching in 2021, NASA's Lucy Mission will fly by seven different Trojan asteroids
orbiting the same distance from the Sun as Jupiter
The mission has four main science objectives:
To study surface geology by mapping craters and other land forms
to determine the age and nature of exterior features;
To map the color and mineral composition of the asteroids’ surfaces;
To determine what’s beneath the surface as well as each asteroid’s mass and density;
And finally, Lucy will look for and study any satellites and rings around the asteroids.
Several instruments are being built for the mission:
L’TES – a thermal emission spectrometer;
L’LORRI – a long-range high-resolution imager;
and L’Ralph – a color imager and infrared spectrometer.
Twin navigation cameras and a high gain antenna
will also help investigate these Trojan asteroids,
which are remnants of the same primordial material that formed the outer planets,
and have so far only been studied with Earth-bound telescopes.
So, as Lucy achieves its science objectives,
we’ll be opening up a time capsule dating back to the birth of our solar system.
The findings will be extraordinary.