NASA’s probe blasts off to Jupiter’s asteroids

with the NASA probe “Lucy” It will be a rocket for the first time on Saturday Jupiter asteroids Break open the. If all goes according to plan, Lucy will be removed with an Atlas 5 missile. 11:34 AM (CEST) from Cape Canaveral Spaceport in Florida, USA. NASA’s live broadcast has already begun.

These types of asteroids will be too Trojans named. Asteroid swarm flying on itself orbiting around the sun like Jupiter. Some Trojans fly in front of Jupiter, and some are followed by a swarm of asteroids.

7 Jupiter asteroids close-up

These celestial bodies are consideredPlanetary formation fossils“This is why NASA is gaining new knowledge about the formation of planets and our formation from the mission Solar System Hopes.

NASA plan invites Lucy to attend 7 Jupiter Trojan It flies very closely and collects a lot of data in the process. In the so-called “Flybys”, the probe speed is accelerated between 18000 and 32400 km/h It arrives. It wouldn’t orbit small asteroids because it would require a lot more fuel.

The mission lasts 12 years

The first asteroid flyby is for 2025 Scheme, others must be between 2027 And 2033 to speak. Mission in progress 12 years In general, Lucy should be around 6.5 billion km return.

Even if Lucy has been on the road for 12 years, her main task – collecting data near asteroids – will take no longer than the total. need 24 hours.

The long way from Lucy

On her way through our solar system, Lucy must also be working on one Asteroids in the main belt Fly close to the orbits of Mars and Jupiter.

In addition, the probe will fly three times close to Earth to find its way with the help of gravity Get support for their path.

probe more than 14 meters It is long and runs on fuel and batteries that can be charged via solar cells. In general, Lucy has 725 kg of fuel on board.