NASA takes on new mission to investigate Trojan asteroids

A NASA mission will soon be launched to investigate Trojans, a group of least studied asteroids in the outer solar system. The Lucy mission, named after the famous Australopithecus fossil that played a key role in understanding early human evolution, will launch later this month and could help us teach us how the solar system is ‘is formed.

In astronomy, Trojans or Trojans are small asteroids or moons that accompany a larger planet or moon orbiting the sun.
The spacecraft was brought to Florida ready to launch from Space Launch Complex 41 at the Cape Canaveral Space Station on Saturday, October 16. Lucy will be launched on a United Launch Alliance V 401 Atlas rocket from Pad 41, from where it will travel through Earth’s atmosphere, out of Earth’s orbit and through the solar system to the Trojan asteroids.
The Trojans are located in the orbit of Jupiter, in two groups – one in front of the planet and one behind. studying them can help us understand how the planets were formed.
“With Lucy, we will be going on eight unprecedented asteroids in 12 years with a single spacecraft,” said Tom Statler, Project Lucy scientist at NASA Headquarters. “This is a great opportunity for discovery as we investigate the distant past of our solar system.”
“There has been a lot of practical work going on,” said Dunya Douglas Bradshaw, project manager for Lucy at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.
As the spacecraft prepared for launch, its fuel tanks were filled with a mixture of liquid hydrazine and liquid oxygen, which would allow it to maneuver between asteroids. It also has its own solar panels to recharge its scientific instruments from the sun.

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