NASA’s pioneering asteroid mission

A spacecraft named Lucy will be the first-ever to explore Jupiter’s so-called Trojan asteroids – ancient remnants of the early solar system – and could revolutionise our knowledge of planetary origins


Human to scale

Cameras and spectrometers
Antenna
Solar panels

Jupiter
Trojan asteroids
Trojan asteroids
ASTEROID BELT
Earth
Sun
Launch: Oct 2021
1 2 3 4 5 6

TROJAN ASTEROIDS
Clustered in two swarms trapped in Jupiter’s gravity, leading and trailing planet in its path around sun

Lucy to flyby seven asteroids to investigate composition, mass, density and volume


LUCY’S TARGETS

1 Apr 2025 Donaldjohanson 
2 Aug 2027 Eurybates
3 Sep 2027 Polymele
4 Apr 2028 Leucus
5 Nov 2028 Orus
6 Mar 2033: Patroclus and Menoetius

100km


Sources: NASA, Southwest Research Institute
Pictures: NASA, NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Conceptual Image Lab 
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