![The Lucy logo says "first to the Trojan asteroids. It features an outline of the Lucy skeleton, the spacecraft and Trojan asteroids in the backgorund.](https://science.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/lucy-insignia.svg.png?w=4096&format=png&crop=1)
Lucy
The first mission to explore the Jupiter Trojan asteroids.
![Artist's concept of the Lucy orbiter with its distinctive round solar panels as it flies past a Trojan asteroid near Jupiter.](https://science.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/final-lucy-1600.jpg?w=4096&format=jpeg)
NASA's Lucy Reveals Asteroid Dinkinesh is Complex
Images from the November 2023 flyby of asteroid Dinkinesh by NASA’s Lucy spacecraft show a trough on Dinkinesh, a ridge, and a separate contact binary satellite, named Selam. Scientists say this complicated structure shows that Dinkinesh and Selam have significant internal strength and a complex, dynamic history.
Learn More![Against the blackness of space, a diamond-shaped asteroid taking up about a third of the height of the image is on the left-hand side. It's lit from the left. At the very right of the image, two small rocks are next to each other. There's a black line in between them which is a shadow from the left-hand rock.](https://science.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/f-wlmlawqaakyov.png?w=4096&format=png)
Lucy's Journey
Episode 1: Launch. Meet Lucy as she prepares for the first ever journey to the Trojan asteroids, a population of primitive small bodies orbiting in tandem with Jupiter.
Watch more episodesOverview
Lucy is the first space mission to explore a diverse population of small bodies known as the Jupiter Trojan
asteroids. These remnants of our early solar system are trapped on stable orbits associated with – but not close to – the giant planet Jupiter. Trojan asteroids orbit in two “swarms” that lead and follow Jupiter in its orbit around the Sun and are thought to be comparable in number to the objects in the main asteroid belt between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter.
Over its 12-year mission, Lucy will explore a record-breaking number of asteroids: it will fly by three in the belt of asteroids that circle the Sun between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter, and then eight Trojans, which includes five asteroid targets and the satellites of three of those. Lucy also will fly by Earth three times to get a push from its gravity, making it the first spacecraft to return to the vicinity of Earth from the outer solar system.
Lucy is named for a fossilized skeleton of a human ancestor, which was named for the Beatles song "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds."
Asteroid | Flyby Date |
---|---|
Dinkinesh (pronounced DIN-ke-nesh) and a contact binary satellite Selam (SEY-lahm) | Nov. 1, 2023 |
Donaldjohanson | April 20, 2025 |
Eurybates (yoo-RIB-a-teez or you-ri-BAY-teez) and its satellite Queta (KEH-tah) | Aug. 12, 2027 |
Polymele (pah-li-MEH-lee or pah-LIM-ah-lee) and its unnamed satellite | Sept. 15, 2027 |
Leucus (LYOO-kus or LOO-kus) | April 18, 2028 |
Orus (OH-rus) | Nov. 11, 2028 |
Patroclus (pa-TROH-klus) and its satellite Menoetius (meno-EE-shus or meh-NEE-shus) | March 3, 2033 |
The Lucy mission is named after the fossilized skeleton of an early hominin (pre-human ancestor) that was found in Ethiopia in 1974 and named “Lucy” by the team of paleoanthropologists who discovered it. And just as the Lucy fossil provided unique insights into human evolution, the Lucy mission promises to expand our knowledge of planetary origins.
Latest Lucy News
![Artist's view of what the Lucy spacecraft, with its big round solar panels, might look like flying past one of its asteroid targets.](https://science.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/lucy-banner-art.jpg?w=4096&format=jpeg)
NASA’s Lucy Spacecraft Preparing for its First Asteroid Flyby
![Visualization showing a black and white image of stars, with a zoomed in view square of asteroid Dinkenish with a yellow circle around it. There's a timeline above the image showing the dates Lucy passed near the asteorid between Sept. 3 through Sept. 22, and will eventually Lucy passes by the asteroid on Nov. 1.](https://science.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/dinkinesh-lucyspacecraft.png?w=4096&format=png)
NASA’s Lucy Spacecraft Continues Approach to Asteroid Dinkinesh
![](https://www.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/dinkinesh_opnav_blink.gif?w=4096&format=png)
NASA’s Lucy Spacecraft Captures its 1st Images of Asteroid Dinkinesh
![](https://www.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/dinkinesh_size_compare_v2.png?w=4096&format=png)
NASA’s Lucy Asteroid Target Gets a Name