At 5:34 a.m., a Joint Launch Union V 401 rocket closed the launch pad at Space Launch Center 41 on the Cape Canaveral space station in Florida, featuring NASA's Lucy spacecraft. Saturday, October 16, 2021 EST. The launch was managed by NASA's Launch Services program at the Kennedy Space Center. Image credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett
NASA's Lucy mission, the agency's first Jupiter Trojan asteroid, was launched at 5:34 a.m. On Saturday, at the Cape Canaveral space station in Florida, an Atlas V rocket at the Cape Canaveral space station in Florida was launched from Cosmodrome 41.
Over the next 12 years, Lucy will fly around one main-belt asteroid and seven Trojan asteroids, the first time the agency has ever explored so many different asteroids. Lucy will investigate the "fossils" of these planets formation up close during her journey.
NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said, "Lucy embodies NASA's enduring quest to advance the universe for exploration and science to better understand the universe and our place in the universe. "I can't wait to see what secrets this mission uncovers!"
An hour after launch, Lucy separated from the second stage of the ULA Atlas V 401 rocket. Its two massive solar arrays, each nearly 24 feet (7.3 meters) wide, successfully unfolded for about 30 minutes and began charging the batteries for their subsystems.
"Today's launch is a truly complete moment for me because Lucy is my first mission approved in 2017, months after joining NASA," said Thomas Zurbuchen, deputy director of NASA's Science Missions Administration headquarters in Washington. "This is a real discovery mission, and Lucy has the opportunity to learn more about these mysterious Trojan asteroids and better understand the formation and evolution of the early solar system."
Lucy sent its first signal from its own antenna to Earth at 6:40 a.m. on NASA's deep space network. EASTERN TIME. The spacecraft is currently flying at 67,000 miles per hour (about 108,000 kilometers per hour) in orbit around the sun and bringing it back to Earth in October 2022 for gravity assistance.
Named after the fossil skeleton of one of the earliest known human ancestors, the Lucy mission will allow scientists to explore two groups of Trojan asteroids that share the same orbit as Jupiter in the orbit of the Sun. Scientific evidence suggests that Trojan asteroids are remnants of material that forms massive planets. Studying them could reveal previously unknown information about their formation and the evolution of the solar system, just as Lucy's fossil skeleton changed our understanding of human evolution.
"We started working on the concept of the Lucy mission in early 2014, so this launch has been brewing for a long time," he said. Hal Levison, Lucy Principal Investigator, headquartered in Boulder, Colorado, is a branch of the SouthwestErn Institute (SwRI) and is headquartered in San Antonio. "We'll still be a few years away from reaching the first Trojan asteroid, but these objects are worth waiting for and putting in all the effort because of their enormous scientific value." They are like diamonds in the sky. “
Lucy's Trojan horse destination is trapped near Jupiter's Lagrange point — gravitationally stable locations in space associated with planetary orbits, where smaller masses can be captured. A group of Trojans is in front of this huge gaseous planet, and another is behind it. The asteroids in Jupiter's Trojan group are as far away from Jupiter as the Sun.
The spacecraft's first Earth gravity assist in 2022 will accelerate and guide Lucy's orbit beyond mars. In 2024, the spacecraft will return to Earth for another gravity assist that will propel Lucy to the Donaldjohanson asteroid located within the solar system's main asteroid belt in 2025.
Lucy will then travel to its first Trojan asteroid encounter the crowd in front of Jupiter, for the arrival of 2027. After completing the first four target flights, the spacecraft will return to Earth in 2031 for a third gravity boost, which will launch it into the Trojan group behind for a 2033 collision.
"Today, we celebrate this incredible milestone and look forward to the new discoveries Lucy will discover," said Donya Douglas-Bradshaw, Lucy's project manager at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland's Green Belt.
NASA Goddard provides comprehensive mission management, systems engineering, and security and mission assurance. Lockheed Martin Space Company in Littleton, Colorado, built the spacecraft. Lucy is the 13th mission of NASA's Exploration Program. NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, manages the agency's exploration program.
For more information about NASA's Lucy mission, visit: Https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/lucy/overview/index.
That's what Lucy reported on today's Countdown, Launch, and Liftoff blog.
Author Linda Herridge posted on October 16, 2021 category Kennedy Space Center, Launch Services Program Hashtag Atlas V Rocket, Cape Canaveral Space Station, Kennedy Space Center, Launch Service Program, LSP, Lucy, NASA, Space Launch Complex 41, Trojan Asteroid, Ula, United Launch Alliance
Explore the Trojan asteroid

Artistic illustration of Lucy's spaceship. Provided by: NASA
In a 12-year mission, NASA's Lucy spacecraft will explore eight asteroids. It will explore more asteroids than any previous mission. En route to the Trojan asteroid, Lucy will fly over the main belt asteroid (52246) Donaldjohanson on April 20, 2025. There, Lucy will fly over these five L4 Trojans: The European Molybdate and its satellite, Quetta, on August 27, 2027, and Polimery on September 27. 15 In 2027, Leucus on April 18, 2028, Orus on November 11, 2028.
The spacecraft's orbit will take Lucy back near Earth for another gravitational assist and take her out of Jupiter's distance again. Lucy will arrive on March 2, 2033, passing past Pat Lokles and its twin twin companion Menortius. And the overflight of these extraordinary asteroids will be the expected end of the mission. Lucy will remain in a stable orbit that will allow it to visit the Trojans again and again for thousands, if not millions, of years.