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Science & Tech.
Pradeep Kumar

30/09/21 10:05 AM IST

NASA's Lucy mission

In news

NASA is poised to send its first spacecraft to study Jupiter's Trojan asteroids to glean new insights into the solar system's formation 4.5 billion years ago.

Details
  • The probe, called Lucy after an ancient fossil that provided insights into the evolution of human species, will launch on October 16 from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.
  • Its mission is to investigate the group of rocky bodies circling the Sun in two swarms, one preceding Jupiter in its orbital path and the other trailing behind it.
  • After receiving boosts from Earth's gravity, Lucy will embark on a 12-year journey to eight different asteroids one in the Main Belt between Mars and Jupiter and then seven Trojans.
  • Whatever Lucy finds will give vital clues about the formation of our solar system.
  • Lucy will fly by its target objects within 250 miles (400 kilometers) of their surfaces, and use its onboard instruments and large antenna to investigate their geology, including composition, mass, density and volume.
  • It will be the first solar-powered to venture this far from the Sun, and will observe more asteroids than any other spacecraft before it. The total mission cost is $981 million.
Source: The Hindu

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