Goddard Engineering and Technology Directorate

Lucy

Category: Solar System
Lucy Spacecraft Telescope in the Lockheed Martin clean room.
Lucy Spacecraft Telescope assembly installation. The spacecraft is seen here in February 2021 on its rotation fixture in the Lockheed Martin clean room in Denver Colorado, as its Instrument Pointing Platform (left) with three core instruments was installed. Credit: Lockheed Martin

NASA’s Lucy mission will study the Trojan asteroids for the purpose of helping humanity understand the formation of planets and the solar system. Lucy is the first space mission to study the Trojans and was launched on Oct. 16, 2021. Overall, the mission is a 12-year endeavor with the spacecraft using gravity assistance form Earth.

With the help of L’LORRI, an imager onboard the spacecraft, four of the Trojan asteroids were seen by Lucy. Those asteroids included: Eurybates, Polymele, Leucus and Orus.

The Goddard Space Flight Center provided mission management, systems engineering and safety and mission assurance.

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