NASA prepares to launch Lucy, a 12-year mission to Jupiter’s asteroids – franceinfo

NASA is all set for Lucy’s launch next month. The mission, which is due to start on October 16 and last for 12 years, will for the first time go to observe asteroids located in the same orbit as Jupiter for the first time. During its journey, the spacecraft will first fly over an asteroid in the main asteroid belt around 2025 (between Mars and Jupiter), then over the following years seven Trojan asteroids.

These latter, “although they are located in a very confined area of ​​space, are very different from each other”, explained Tuesday, September 28 during a press conference (in English) Hal Levison, principal investigator for this mission. “For example, they have very different colors, some are gray, some are red.”

So one of the theories is that these asteroids formed beyond Jupiter’s orbit before being attracted there and that these colors reflect where they came from. “Whatever Lucy finds out, it will give us essential clues as to how our solar system was formed.”said the director of NASA’s planetary science division, Lori Glaze.

The spacecraft, equipped with huge solar panels, will be the first solar-powered to venture this far from the Sun and see more asteroids than any before it. It will also allow researchers to study the geology of asteroids, their composition as well as their precise density, mass and volume. The total cost of the mission is estimated at $ 891 million.