Lucy’s mission to explore the Trojan asteroids near Jupiter

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11min 59sec
Lucy Mission
Courtesy: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center
Lucy is the first space mission to explore the Trojan asteroids. These are a population of small bodies that are left over from the formation of the Solar System. They lead or follow Jupiter in its orbit around the Sun and may tell us about the origins of organic materials on Earth.

NASA missions often rocket toward a singular target: a neighboring planet or a distant moon. The Lucy spacecraft, however, is going on a grand tour-- eight destinations over eight billion miles. If all goes as planned, Lucy launches Saturday, October 16. The spacecraft was built by Lockheed Martin in Littleton. Richard Lipe is the program manager.