Merdeka.com – NASA launched the space probe Lucy successfully from Cape Canaveral in Florida, Saturday, October 16, 2021 local time. Space probe Lucy will carry out its 12-year mission to study asteroids near Jupiter, the Trojan. Thus quoted from The Verge, Sunday (17/10).
Furthermore, space probe Lucy is an unmanned spacecraft launched aboard the United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket. Lucy sends her first signal to Earth from its antenna to NASA’s Deep Space Network.
Scientists believe that Trojan asteroids orbiting the Sun along the same path as Jupiter may have clues about the formation of the solar system. Lucy became NASA’s first single spacecraft mission to explore so many different asteroids.
Lucy’s name comes from a human fossil skeleton found in Ethiopia in 1974. Lucy’s fossil skeleton provides important insights into human evolution. Lucy’s name is taken from the Beatles song ‘Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds’ which was played at the fossil discovery site.
NASA said the Lucy space probe will provide insight into the evolution of the solar system and planets, such as how Lucy’s fossils provide knowledge about human evolution.
Space probe Lucy is on a complicated trajectory that will include three orders of gravity-assisted return trips to Earth. First, Lucy orbits the Sun and then returns to Earth next year to get a gravitational boost.
This will accelerate and direct the plane’s trajectory beyond Mars orbit, when Lucy returns to Earth for a gravitational boost in 2024.
This moment will help push Lucy towards the asteroid Donaldjohanson in 2025. Lucy will then head towards the asteroid Trojan and is expected to arrive in 2027.
Summer: Liputan6.com
Reporter: Agustin Setyo Wardani [faz]
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