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LUCY MISSION    

4th October, 2021

 

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Context

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

 

About

  • 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.
  • Aim: 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 us vital clues about the formation of our solar system.

 

Fossil

  • Lucy (Australopithecus), a fossilized hominid of the species Australopithecus afarensis.
  • Researchers discovered Lucy the fossil in Ethiopia in 1974.

 

https://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/science/nasas-lucy-mission-to-probe-jupiters-mysterious-trojan-asteroids/article36747491.ece