|
|
The Lucy mission launched
on October 16, 2021 to begin a 12-year journey to
explore the Jupiter Trojans, the last major reservoir of
Solar System small bodies not yet explored by
spacecraft. The Trojans are a key dynamical class
that likely have remained stable in their distant orbits
for billions of years, containing a sample of bodies
from different parts of the Solar System captured after
migration of the outer planets. As such, they can
be considered as well-preserved "fossils" of the early
epoch of planetary formation. I will present an
overview of the Lucy mission and spacecraft, the science
motivations and what we currently know about the
Trojans, and what has happened so far in the first few
years of the mission, which includes two successful
practice flybys of main belt asteroids.
|
|