Now, you may have already known about the asteroid belt, and that it’s situated between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. In fact, a team of scientists just managed to snap photos of the 42 largest space rocks out there. As some of you may have guessed already, however, space is never really as simple as it seems—and this goes double for asteroids. As it turns out, there are, in fact, more asteroids than just those located within the asteroid belt. Some of them actually lead or trail the planet Jupiter.
These peculiar asteroids seemingly lost in space are called the Jupiter Trojans, or just sometimes called the Trojan asteroids. These asteroids are locked in place at the Lagrange points created by the Sun-Jupiter gravitational dance, much like Earth’s own Lagrange points. (In fact, the James Webb Space Telescope is planned to park at one of those spots, generally speaking; you can also find more information about Lagrange points there.)
NASA is now dedicated to studying these mysterious space rocks with its recently-launched Lucy mission, being the first NASA mission ever sent to the odd asteroid grouping just beyond the main asteroid belt. In doing so, Lucy hopes to illuminate the origins of the planets, as well as the formation of the Solar System itself.
Said Lucy’s principal investigator and Southwest Research Institute researcher Dr. Hal Levison: “We started working on the Lucy mission concept early in 2014, so this launch has been long in the making. […] It will still be several years before we get to the first Trojan asteroid, but these objects are worth the wait and all the effort because of their immense scientific value.”
Levison followed: “They are like diamonds in the sky.” The mission’s name is based off of the Australopithecus afarensis specimen AL 288-1, more commonly known by its nickname “Lucy.” Just as “Lucy” gave us new insights into our origins on Earth, the Lucy mission is set to give us new insights into our planet’s origins—as well as the origins of the rest of the Solar System. (The original “Lucy” A. afarensis specimen was named after The Beatles song “Lucy In the Sky With Diamonds,” which was played on repeat at the expedition site that found her during the team’s first evening onsite.)
Lucy launched last October 16, and is set to travel through space at roughly 108,000 km/h (67,009 mi/h); with its current speed, Lucy is projected to reach the Trojan asteroids for the first time by the year 2027.
Its flight plan actually includes first orbiting the Sun then returning to Earth for a speed boost known as a gravity assist; after a gravity assist almost back to its home planet by 2022, Lucy is then set to travel beyond Mars’ orbit at that point, then return back close to Earth for a second gravity assist. It is then planned to travel towards the asteroid Donaldjohanson by 2025. From there, Lucy will travel towards the Trojan asteroids leading the giant planet, where it will make first contact by 2027—nearly six years after it first launched.
Afterwards, Lucy is set to return close to Earth for a third gravity assist before returning again to Jupiter, but this time visiting the trailing Trojan asteroids instead.
NASA Administrator Bill Nelson believes that “Lucy embodies NASA’s enduring quest to push out into the cosmos for the sake of exploration and science, [and] to better understand the universe and our place within it.” He exclaimed, “I can’t wait to see what mysteries the mission uncovers!”
Associate administrator for NASA Headquarters’ Science Mission Directorate Dr. Thomas Zurbuchen called Lucy’s launch a “genuine full-circle moment,” as it was the very first mission he approved back in 2017, apparently just a few months after he had joined NASA. “A true mission of discovery, Lucy is rich with [the] opportunity to learn more about these mysterious Trojan asteroids and better understand the formation and evolution of the early Solar System.”
References
- NASA. (n.d.). In depth | Lucy. NASA Solar System Exploration. Retrieved October 20, 2021, from https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/missions/lucy/in-depth
- Sci-News. (2021, October 18). NASA’s Lucy Spacecraft Launches to Study Jupiter’s Trojan Asteroids. Sci-News. http://www.sci-news.com/space/lucy-launch-10174.html
