Lucy is about to explore the Solar System

The US Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has officially confirmed the implementation of the unmanned space probe project Lucy.

On January 4, 2017, NASA summarized the 13th contest for Discovery Program to discover the mysteries of the Solar System. The project selection lasts several years. In mid-2015, NASA received 28 proposals for the Discovery Program, from which the agency selected five projects to include in the final. Finally, NASA announced two projects selected, namely: Project Psyche and Lucy . Psyche is a flight to the 16 Psyche asteroid.

Lucy is the mission of a spaceship flying past 6 celestial Trojan bodies.

This is the largest metal asteroid, never "visited" . Lucy is the mission of a spaceship flying past 6 celestial Trojan bodies . These 6 bodies are believed to be the early vestiges of Solar System history and they formed long ago outside Jupiter's orbit, then gravitated to Jupiter into orbit. This Lucy mission lasts a total of 11 years, during which the last horizontal flight is expected to end in 2028.

The work prepared for the mission Lucy lasted nearly 2 years. Finally, NASA officially confirmed this mission and put it into the implementation phase. Currently expected Lucy comes in October 2021. The flight of the Lucy probe will last 12 years. During that time, Lucy will study an asteroid of the asteroid belt and 6 Jupiter's Trojan bodies.

The asteroid that Lucy flew near named 52246 Donaldjohanson (symbol 1981 EQ5). This is an asteroid 4 km in diameter. Lucy will fly over it on August 25, 2025.

The six Trojans that Lucy 'visits' in the years 2023 - 2028 have a diameter from 21km to 115 km.