An ambitious project aiming to learn more about the birth and development of the solar system has launched from Florida ahead of a 12-year mission to reach asteroids near Jupiter.
Given the same name as a skeleton of a human ancestor that provided scientists with insight into evolution, the Lucy mission spacecraft started its journey on Saturday at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. Initially attached to a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket, about an hour after blastoff, it separated from the rocket’s second stage.
To power its subsystems and multiple cameras to capture its future targets, Lucy then successfully unfurled two massive solar arrays, each around 24 feet (7.3 meters) wide.
It is now traveling at roughly 67,000mph (108,000kph), but will not reach its first destination asteroid until April 2025. Over the course of Lucy’s 12-year mission, it is set to fly by and investigate eight asteroids, believed to be like fossils of planetary formation.
“It will still be several years before we get to the first Trojan asteroid, but these objects are worth the wait and all the effort because of their immense scientific value. They are like diamonds in the sky,” Lucy principal investigator Hal Levison said.
The Trojan asteroids, possibly some of the oldest objects in the solar system, orbit the Sun in the same path as Jupiter. They are believed to contain billion-years-old raw materials that shaped the planet, as well as Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. Being like time capsules from the birth of our solar system, these space rocks are hoped to deliver better knowledge of its earliest days and further development.
“Lucy will profoundly change our understanding of planetary evolution in our solar system,” planetary scientist at NASA Headquarters in Washington Adriana Ocampo said.
Like this story? Share it with a friend!
source: RT
Împotriva articolelor redacției noastre, persoanele nemulțumite pot formula Contestație în termen de 10 zile de la publicarea articolului, la judecătoria Orășenească nr. 1 München Bayern Deutschland, in conformitate cu Legea federală Germană. Considerăm că nu se pot formula acțiuni la instanțele din România deoarece nici o persoană care activează în trustul nostru nu poate fi extrasă de sub jurisdicția federală germană. Considerăm că redacția noastră nu răspunde în fața autorităților din România ci doar celor federale sau civile germane. deoarece legea română nu are efecte de extraneitate asupra redacției chiar dacă subiectul știrilor face obiectul unor evenimente sau persoane din România și sunt scrise în limba română. Limba română nu este izvor de extraneitate a legii.
absolvent WEB DESIGN Academia Britanică de Comunicare Iasi - absolvent COMUNICARE IN AFACERI Academia Britanica de Afaceri si Comunicare -absolvent JURNALISM EDITORIAL - London School University - 2019 inscris la echivalare diploma la Universitatea Politehnica Timisoara - absolvent studii de Drept Universitatea Europeană Drăgan, cursuri in Drept la Universitatea de Vest Timisoara, absolvent studii de proiectare, pastor coordonator in Biserica Protestanta Evanghelica,
Android Developer pe Google Play și plugin developer la Oxwall, creator de teme Wordpress și Oxwall, operator Wordpress, Drupal, Oxwall, Osclass, Moodle, tehnologii HTML și PHP
The trial of a 96-year-old former Nazi concentration camp secretary has begun in Germany after she was detained following an attempt to flee over charges of complicity in the murder of thousands of people during the war. Irmgard Furchner is the first woman to go on trial for decades over crimes committed by the Nazis, […]
Cressida Dick announces her resignation, saying Mayor of London “no longer has sufficient confidence” in her leadership The head of London’s Metropolitan Police force, Commissioner Cressida Dick, has announced her resignation from the post after meeting with the city’s mayor, Sadiq Khan, whom she said “no longer has sufficient confidence in my leadership.” “He has left me […]
Covid-19 variants keep emerging in different parts of the world, causing experts to ask how long the pandemic will last, and how effective the current methods of protection really are. Since the pandemic started in 2019, people have referred to the disease which has paralyzed the world simply as ‘coronavirus’. Now, in 2021, when we […]
