- NASA and the Southwest Research Institute are planning to explore some of the solar system's oldest bodies, a series of asteroids known as the "Trojans."
- To do so, they will launch a small spacecraft named Lucy to explore the region through a series of flybys.
- The mission has just finished its design stage, and now building can begin.
In 2021, NASA and the Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) will launch one of their most technically complex missions in the modern era. Known as Lucy, the mission will explore the Trojans, asteroids that share an orbit with Jupiter. The mission has passed a critical design review, meaning the path to exploring some of the solar system's most ancient bodies is getting closer.
“The Trojan asteroids are leftovers from the early days of our solar system, effectively fossils of the planet formation process,” says SwRI’s Harold Levison, the principal investigator of the mission, in a press statement. “They hold vital clues to deciphering the history of our solar system. Lucy, like the human ancestor fossil for which it is named, will revolutionize the understanding of our origins.”
There are five Trojans, four of which are orbiting ahead of or behind the biggest planet in the solar system. One of them lies within the solar system's main asteroid belt.
It's an ambitious tour. The recent design review, undertaken by NASA and third-party external groups, evaluated the Lucy craft from top to bottom. Spacecraft and instrument payload, flight hardware and software, systems engineering, mission assurance, and ground systems all received a thorough examination. With the craft's design phase over, engineers can now begin building Lucy and its accompanying instruments.
That means NASA will open the project to more organizations. Private contractor Lockheed Martin is building Lucy itself, while the Goddard Space Flight Center, the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, and Arizona State University are building, mapping, and imaging instruments to remotely explore the asteroids.
“Lucy’s ability to fly by so many targets means that we will not only get the first up-close look at this unexplored population, but we will also be able to study why the asteroids appear so different,” says SwRI’s Cathy Olkin, deputy principal investigator of the mission, in the statement. “The mission will provide an unparalleled glimpse into the formation of our solar system, helping us understand the source of volatiles and organics on the terrestrial planets and the evolution of the planetary system as a whole.”
The Lucy mission is part of NASA's Discovery Program. As opposed to big-budget programs like the James Webb Space Telescope and the Space Launch System, the Discovery Program is comprised of low-cost, focused planetary exploration missions.
“The Lucy team has been working for over a year reviewing the designs of every system and subsystem,” says Goddard’s Donya Douglas-Bradshaw, Lucy’s project manager, in the statement. “Through all this hard work, the team is doing everything possible to ensure a successful mission. The team is to be commended for their dedication.”
David Grossman is a staff writer for PopularMechanics.com. He's previously written for The Verge, Rolling Stone, The New Republic and several other publications. He's based out of Brooklyn.
