NASA’s Lucy mission is studying Trojan asteroids that share Jupiter’s orbit.
Lucy launched on October 16, 2021, beginning a planned journey through the main asteroid belt and Jupiter’s Trojan populations. These asteroids occupy gravitationally stable regions ahead of and behind Jupiter in its orbit. Scientists believe many preserve material from the early Solar System.
The mission is named after the fossil hominin specimen known as Lucy, because studying the Trojans may illuminate the origins of the planets. Lucy is designed to visit seven Trojan asteroids, one main-belt asteroid, and Earth’s orbital region through gravity assists. It is distinct from Juno, which studies Jupiter itself, and Psyche, which is traveling to the metal-rich asteroid 16 Psyche.