LUCY MISSION

Lucy Mission : Discovering the Origins of Our Solar System, The Lucy Mission to Explore Trojan Asteroids.

This illustration shows the Lucy spacecraft passing one of the Trojan Asteroids near Jupiter.

Credit: NASA | Southwest Research Institute

NASA's Lucy Mission is an exciting and groundbreaking space exploration project that will study a set of asteroids near Jupiter known as the Trojans. The mission was launched on October 16, 2021 and will provide important clues to the creation of our solar system and the origin of life on Earth. Lucy is named after a famous female Australopithecus afarensis fossil that helped to shed light on human evolution, and the mission will similarly shed light on our solar system's earliest days.

The probe's main focus of study are the Trojan asteroids, thought to be remnants from the primordial disk that formed the sun and planets and were captured by Jupiter's gravity near the beginning of the solar system. Lucy will be the first mission to visit the Trojans and will fly past 8 asteroids of 3 different subclasses, 2 tiny moons, and 2 objects rotating around each other. The targets will include C-type, D-type, and P-type asteroids, each of which will help scientists better understand the solar system's genesis.

The spacecraft is 46 feet long, larger than a 4-story building, and will carry instruments to measure the surface temperatures of the target asteroids, inspect and identify ice, organic material, and minerals using infrared light, capture high-resolution black and white images, remotely measure surface temperature, and beam back images while determining the mass of the asteroids.

Lucy's first target will be the asteroid 1999 VD57, provisionally nicknamed Dinkinesh, which the spacecraft will fly by in November 2023. The spacecraft will then make a quick flyby of the asteroid 52246 Donaldjohanson in 2025 before beginning its Trojan flybys in 2027 to 2033.

The Lucy Mission is a unique and ambitious project that has the potential to bring significant advancements in our understanding of the solar system and its formation. The mission team is eagerly anticipating the results of this exciting journey.

Purpose of Lucy Spacecraft.

The Lucy spacecraft is a robotic mission developed by NASA to explore the early Solar System and the Trojans asteroids. Lucy is a part of the New Frontiers Program, which is a series of space missions designed to study the Solar System and its origins. The main purpose of the Lucy mission is to study the physical and geological characteristics of Trojans asteroids, and to understand how these objects have evolved over time.

Why is the NASA Mission Named Lucy:

The mission was named after the famous Lucy fossil, a 3.2 million-year-old remains of the early human species Australopithecus afarensis. The name Lucy was chosen to reflect the mission's focus on exploring the beginnings of the Solar System and to recognize the significance of the Lucy fossil in our understanding of human evolution.

NASA's Lucy Spacecraft Experiences Solar Panel Issue on Journey to Explore Asteroids.

One of Lucy’s solar panels fully deployed before its launch

 

Image: Lockheed Martin

NASA's recently launched Lucy spacecraft has run into trouble with one of its two main solar panels. The Lucy spacecraft was launched on October 16th, 2021 from Florida with the aim of exploring clusters of asteroids around Jupiter. However, On October 17th, NASA has announced that one of the 24-foot wide solar panels may not be fully latched. The mission team is working on a solution, and for now, both panels are still producing power and charging the battery. Although the spacecraft is currently functioning normally, the improperly latched solar panel may cause problems as Lucy travels deeper into the Solar System. The spacecraft will visit seven Trojan asteroids and one asteroid in the main belt, and will make up to three passes by Earth to gain a gravitational boost. With a 12-year journey ahead, having a reliable source of power will be crucial.

The Recent Update:

Lucy Mission Update

Lucy Mission Halts Deployment of Solar Array, NASA Announces.

Image Credit : NASA

On January 19th, 2023, NASA has announced a suspension of further deployment activities for the solar array on its Lucy spacecraft. The mission team determined that operating the spacecraft with the current state of the array carries an acceptable level of risk, and additional deployment efforts may not bring any significant benefits. Although one of the two arrays failed to fully unfurl and latch after launch, it was later partially deployed, and current estimates show that it is over 98% deployed and capable of supporting the 12-year mission. The array has been performing well and generating the expected amount of power, and the spacecraft is on track along its planned trajectory. The team will continue to monitor the array's behavior and re-evaluate if further measures are necessary during the spacecraft's approach to Earth in 2024. 

NASA's Lucy Mission Adds New Asteroid to Exploration List.

NASA's Lucy spacecraft will add another stop to its journey of 4 billion miles. On November 1st, 2023, Lucy will get a close-up view of a small main-belt asteroid to test its innovative asteroid-tracking navigation system. Lucy's mission plans to visit 9 asteroids in a 12-year tour of the Jupiter Trojan asteroids. Originally, Lucy wasn't supposed to get a close look at any asteroids until 2025, but the Lucy team discovered a small, unnamed asteroid, (152830) 1999 VD57, that would be a good target for testing the spacecraft's navigation system.

Credits: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center

NASA's Lucy spacecraft is set to encounter a small, unnamed asteroid (152830) 1999 VD57 as it travels through the main asteroid belt in the fall of 2023. The encounter, which will take place on November 1st, will provide an opportunity to test the spacecraft's innovative asteroid-tracking navigation system. This graphic depicts Lucy's trajectory in the Solar System before the encounter.

The team realized that by making a small maneuver, the spacecraft could get an even closer view of the asteroid. On January 24th, the team officially added the asteroid to Lucy's tour as a test of the terminal tracking system. This new system solves a long-standing problem for flyby missions by allowing the spacecraft to automatically track the asteroid during the encounter.

1999 VD57 provides an excellent opportunity to validate the new system, as the geometry of the encounter is very similar to the mission's planned Trojan encounters. This small asteroid, estimated to be only 0.4 miles in size, will be the smallest main-belt asteroid ever visited by a spacecraft. The Lucy team will carry out a series of maneuvers in May 2023 to place the spacecraft near the asteroid. Lucy's principal investigator is based in Boulder, Colorado, and the spacecraft was built by Lockheed Martin Space. Lucy is the 13th mission in NASA's Discovery Program.

Conclusion

The Lucy spacecraft is a NASA robotic mission designed to study the Trojans asteroids and early Solar System. The mission is named after the Lucy fossil, a 3.2 million-year-old early human species, to reflect its focus on exploring the beginning of the Solar System. After its launch on October 16, 2021, it experienced issues with one of its two main solar panels. Despite a partial deployment, the panel has been performing well and generating the expected power, and the mission team will monitor its behavior. The spacecraft has added a new stop to its journey, a small main-belt asteroid, to test its asteroid-tracking navigation system.

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