Lucy
Lucy mission patch
Lucy, a spacecraft launched October 16, 2021, will eventually pass by and photograph eight asteroids. Today and in two years time, it will swing by Earth and pick up speed to help it reach asteroid Donaldjohanson, named after the scientist who discovered the Lucy hominin fossils in Ethiopia, in 2025.
In 2027, Lucy will arrive in the L4 Trojan cloud, a cluster of asteroids that orbit ahead of Jupiter in the same path. Lucy will visit four Trojans, Eurybates and its moon Queta, Polymele, Leucus, and Orus.
Lucy will return to Earth in 2031 for another gravity boost and in 2023, will visit Patroclus and its satellite Menoetius in the L5 Trojan cloud, which follows Jupiter. After that, NASA will decide whether or not to extend Lucy's mission.
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