Disclaimer: We may earn a commission if you make any purchase by clicking our links. Please see our detailed guide here.

Follow us on:

Google News
Whatsapp

NASA Announces the Successful Deployment of Lucy Mission to Jupiter’s Trojan Asteroids

Yusuf Balogun
Yusuf Balogun
Yusuf is a law graduate and freelance journalist with a keen interest in tech reporting.

Join the Opinion Leaders Network

Join the Techgenyz Opinion Leaders Network today and become part of a vibrant community of change-makers. Together, we can create a brighter future by shaping opinions, driving conversations, and transforming ideas into reality.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has officially announced that it has successfully deployed the solar panels of the Lucy Mission to Jupiter’s Trojan asteroids.

 The information was shared via the Twitter page of Lucy Mission, capturing: 

 “Lucy’s solar arrays have successful deployed! Go lucky!”

 

The newest asteroid probe, the Lucy Mission, is a 12 years mission that will go to eight different asteroids, including a main-belt asteroid and eight Jupiter trojans, asteroids that circle the Sun either ahead of or behind Jupiter.

Lucy blasted off at about 5:34 a.m. EDT today, October 16, from Kennedy Space Center in Florida, United States of America. Lucy will fly by one main-belt asteroid and seven Trojans to examine a record-breaking number of asteroids. No other space mission in history has gone to as many different places in different orbits around the Sun.

Lucy, named after a fossilized human ancestor whose skeleton afforded rare insight into human evolution, is more than 14m in length from tip to tip, the majority of which is made up of massive solar panels that give power to the spaceship.

The Lucy fossil, discovered in Ethiopia in 1974, was named after the Beatles song “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds,” which was played frequently at the excavation team’s camp.

According to Lucy’s principal investigator at the Southwest Research Institute, Hal Levison, who explained why the Trojans are important, said: “The reason why the Trojans are important scientifically is that they were essentially leftovers.”

The Trojans are gravitationally trapped in stable orbits at the same distance from the sun as Jupiter and are thought to be relics of the early solar system. Lucy will investigate the geology, content, density, and structure of each of its Trojan targets using a variety of scientific instruments.

NASA is part of the United States government in charge of U.S. science and technology that has to do with airplanes or space, founded on October 1, 1958.

 

Join 10,000+ Fellow Readers

Get Techgenyz’s roundup delivered to your inbox curated with the most important for you that keeps you updated about the future tech, mobile, space, gaming, business and more.

Recomended

Partner With Us

Digital advertising offers a way for your business to reach out and make much-needed connections with your audience in a meaningful way. Advertising on Techgenyz will help you build brand awareness, increase website traffic, generate qualified leads, and grow your business.

Power Your Business

Solutions you need to super charge your business and drive growth

More from this topic