Lucy launches NASA rockets into the sky with diamonds to explore asteroids | NASA

[ad_1]

A NASA spacecraft named Lucy blasted through the sky with diamonds on a 12-year mission to explore eight asteroids.

Seven mysterious space rocks are among swarms of asteroids that share the orbit of Jupiter, which are thought to be the original remnants of planet formation.

An Atlas V rocket blasted off before dawn on Saturday, sending Lucy on an orbital flight spanning nearly four billion miles (6.3 billion kilometers). “I’m very happy,” said Robert Cabana, associate administrator for NASA, after takeoff. “This is the coolest darn mission.”

Lucy is named after the 3.2 million-year-old skeletal remains of a human ancestor found in Ethiopia nearly half a century ago. The discovery got its name from the 1967 Beatles song Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds, which prompted NASA to send the spacecraft to fly with the band members’ song and other shiny words of wisdom printed on a plaque. The spacecraft also carried a lab-grown diamond disc for one of its science instruments.

In a pre-recorded NASA video, drummer Ringo Starr paid tribute to the late John Lennon, who was credited with writing the song.

“Lucy returns to heaven with diamonds. Johnny would love it,” Starr said. “Anyway, if you meet anyone there, Lucy, give them peace and love from me.”

‘Johnny would love it’: Ringo Starr wishes success in NASA’s Lucy mission – VIDEO

The paleoanthropologist behind the discovery of Lucy’s remains, Donald Johansson, said he was full of amazement at this intersection of our past, present and future.

“The presence of a long-lived human ancestor spurred a mission that promises to add valuable information about the formation of our solar system is very exciting,” said Johansson, of Arizona Tate University, who traveled to Cape Canaveral, Florida for the launch.

Lucy’s $981m (£715m) mission is the first to target Jupiter’s so-called Trojan entourage: thousands – if not millions – of asteroids that share the gas giant’s orbit around the sun. Some Trojan asteroids precede Jupiter in their orbit, while others follow.

Despite their orbits, Trojans are far from the planet and are mostly scattered far from each other. Hal Levison of the Southwest Research Institute, lead scientist on the expedition, said there was no fundamental chance that Lucy would be hit by someone while she went over her targets.

Lucy will pass Earth next October and again in 2024 to get enough gravity to reach Jupiter’s orbit. On the way there, the spacecraft will pass the asteroid DonaldJohansson between Mars and Jupiter. The aptly named rock will serve as a warm-up for scientific instruments in 2025.

Chasing the Force from two massive circular solar wings, Lucy will pursue five asteroids in the leading group of Trojans in late 2020. The spacecraft will then return toward Earth for another gravitational assist in 2030 that will return it to the subsequent Trojan group, where it will blast away from the two targets. The last two are in 2033.

Lucy will pass within 600 miles of each target; The largest is about 70 miles wide.

“Are there mountains? Valleys? Digs? Misses? Who know? I’m sure we’ll be surprised,” said Hal Weaver of Johns Hopkins University, who is in charge of Lucy’s black and white camera. “But we can’t wait to see what… the photos will reveal These fossils are from the formation of the solar system.”

[ad_2]