NASA launched an unprecedented mission this Saturday (16) to study Jupiter’s Trojan asteroids, two large clumps of space rock that scientists believe are remnants of material that formed outer planets in the Solar System.
The space probe, nicknamed Lucy and packed inside a special cargo pod, according to news reported by Brazil agency, took off at the scheduled time from the US Air Force Station in Cape Canaveral, Florida, at 10:34 am (Portuguese time), reported the Nasa. The equipment was launched on an Atlas V rocket from the United Launch Alliance (UAL), a joint venture da Boeing e da Lockheed Martin.
Lucy’s mission is a 12-year expedition to study record numbers of asteroids. It will be the first to explore the so-called Trojans, thousands of rocky objects orbiting the Sun in two clusters – one ahead of Jupiter’s path and one behind it.
The largest known Trojan asteroids, named after the warriors of Greek mythology, are believed to measure up to 225 kilometers in diameter.
According to the Brazil agency, scientists hope Lucy’s flight over seven Trojan rocks will provide new clues about how the Solar System’s planets formed about 4.5 billion years ago and what shaped their current configuration.
Lucy will also fly over an asteroid in the Solar System’s main belt, named Donald Johanson, named after the chief discoverer of the fossilized human ancestor known as Lucy. Lucy’s fossil, discovered in Ethiopia in 1974, in turn inspired the music Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds, from The Beatles.
The probe will use rockets to maneuver in space and two rounded solar panels, each the width of a school bus, that will recharge the batteries that power the instruments contained in Lucy’s body.
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