Lucy Mission Overview

NASA Science reports that the Lucy spacecraft, launched on October sixteenth, twenty twenty‑one, is the first mission to visit the Jupiter Trojan asteroids – ancient bodies that share Jupiter’s orbit in two swarms ahead of and behind the planet. Over an expected twelve‑year journey, Lucy will fly by three main‑belt asteroids and eight Trojans, including five asteroids and three tiny asteroid moons, gathering clues about the early solar system. The Trojans are thought to be remnants from the era of planet formation, trapped in stable orbits near the solar system’s largest planet, Jupiter. The mission is slated to continue until roughly twenty thirty‑three, as it collects data that may reshape our picture of how planets formed.

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