NASA's New Lucy Mission Gets Go Signal To Visit, Study Asteroids Near Jupiter

NASA has received the green light to proceed with the necessary preparations for the launch of a new space mission in 2021. Dubbed as Lucy, the upcoming mission will focus on studying and visiting the asteroids near Jupiter.

According to the space agency, details of the Lucy mission recently underwent a Critical Design Review that took place from Oct. 15 to 18. This procedure, which was held in Colorado, closely analyzed all aspects related to the mission such as its proposed instrument payload, flight hardware and software and systems engineering.

After passing the review process, the team behind the new NASA mission has received the necessary approval to begin the manufacturing and fabrication stage, which involves building the necessary hardware required for the project.

"This is a very exciting time for us because we are moving beyond the design phase and a really starting to build the spacecraft, Hal Levison, the principal investigator for the mission said in a statement. “It is finally becoming real!"

The main goal of the mission will be to visit and study the Trojan asteroids that share the same orbit as Jupiter. Lucy will serve as the first mission to study these asteroids According to NASA, six Trojan asteroids have been identified as the main subjects of Lucy. Aside from these, the mission will also study one Main Belt asteroid, bringing the total number of subjects to seven.

“I am constantly amazed at the dedication and diversity of skills that our team brings to this project," Keith Noll of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center and the project scientist for the Lucy mission said.

”Day by day the mission comes into clearer focus and the mission critical design review is the latest milestone in our journey to launch just two years from now,” he added.

The Lucy mission is expected to launch sometime in October 2021. According to NASA, the mission’s spacecraft will use Earth’s gravity to propel itself into space as it starts its journey. The agency estimated that the mission will be able to complete its task of studying the seven selected asteroids within 12 years after its launch.