Atlas V 401 | Lucy
Launch Successful
L - -- : -- : -- : --
Launch Window
Oct. 16, 2021, 9:34 a.m. - Oct. 16, 2021, 10:49 a.m.
Oct. 16, 2021, 9:34 a.m. - Oct. 16, 2021, 10:49 a.m.
Lucy will be the first space mission to study Jupiter's Trojan asteroids. The Trojans may be remnants of the primordial material that formed the outer planets, and serve as time capsules from the birth of our solar system more than 4 billion years ago.
Lucy is the first mission to explore and study Trojan asteroids. The Trojans are a type of asteroids that orbit the Sun in two groups, in front of and behind Jupiter in its orbit around our star. Since these asteroids have been in such stable orbits for billions of years, they are of great interest as remnants of early Solar System. Lucy is a NASA mission led by NASA Goddard and Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colorado. Over the course of 12 years, Lucy will fly by seven different Trojan asteroids and also one main belt asteroid. The complex trajectory to visit all targets will include several Earth gravity assists.
Successful launch of NASA's Lucy probe on a 12-year journey to study the Trojan asteroids.
Added launch time
Launch time confirmed by ULA
An Atlas V with a 4 meter diameter fairing, no boosters and a single centaur upper stage engine.
See DetailsUnited Launch Alliance (ULA) is a joint venture of Lockheed Martin Space Systems and Boeing Defense, Space & Security. ULA was formed in December 2006 by combining the teams at these companies which provide spacecraft launch services to the government of the United States. ULA launches from both coasts of the US. They launch their Atlas V vehicle from LC-41 in Cape Canaveral and LC-3E at Vandeberg. Their Delta IV launches from LC-37 at Cape Canaveral and LC-6 at Vandenberg.
INFO WIKI
NASA has added another asteroid flyby to its Lucy mission later this year that will provide a test of its capabilities for future encounters.
NASA is suspending efforts, at least until late next year, to try to fully deploy a solar array on its Lucy spacecraft, citing diminishing returns as the spacecraft heads away from the sun.
A year after its launch, NASA’s Jupiter Trojan asteroid explorer Lucy has completed its first of multiple Earth gravity assists on its journey to explore nine asteroids. Lucy is a first-of-its-kind mission to visit several Trojan asteroids…
We've still got to wait three years before the first asteroid flyby.
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