An Exploration Like No Other

With space exploration taking heights never known to man before, the race is on to go beyond just exploring planets and the moons that orbit them. On one hand, billionaires are attempting at making space exploration as accessible as taking a vacation trip to a select crowd, another group of researchers and well-financed organizations are exploring moons and asteroids that are present in our milky way in hopes of seeking deeper insight into the formation of the universe and solar system, the possible existence of life elsewhere, and possible findings of newer materials and elements that will enhance man’s development on planet Earth.

 

NASA’s latest space probe name Lucy was launched on Saturday, October 16, 2021. Its mission, spanning 12 years, is to fly by and study one main-belt asteroid and seven Trojan asteroids that are located ahead of and behind the planet Jupiter. It aims to investigate the “fossils” of planetary formation in the origins of the solar system in a detailed manner during the voyage. According to NASA, “Scientific evidence indicates that Trojan asteroids are remnants of the material that formed giant planets. Studying them can reveal previously unknown information about their formation and our solar system’s evolution in the same way the fossilized skeleton of Lucy revolutionized our understanding of human evolution.”

 

The probe set out on its adventure on Saturday at 5:34 am EDT on a United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V rocket from Space Launch Complex 41 located at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida, USA. Enthralled by the latest by the agency, NASA administrator had said that “Lucy embodies NASA’s enduring quest to push out into the cosmos for the sake of exploration and science, to better understand the universe and our place within it. I can’t wait to see what mysteries the mission uncovers!”

 

The probe is powered by two massive solar array panels, each spanning almost 7.3 meters wide. The panels were successfully extended after 30 mins post-separation from the second stage of the ULA Atlas V401 rocket, and have begun charging the spacecraft’s batteries to power its subsystems. Lucy had sent its first signal to Earth at around 6:40 am on Saturday. The spacecraft is traveling at around 67,000mph (108,00kph) on a trajectory that will orbit the Sun and bring it back toward Earth in October 2011 for a gravity assist. After which it will fly by Mars and swing by Earth in 2024 for another gravity assist and head to study the first asteroid by 2025 and encounter the first trojan asteroids by 2027.

 

However, a snag was hit early yesterday, after it was found that one of the panels may not be fully latched. It is unclear at the moment how this will affect the future of the probe. NASA had informed that the mission team is analyzing the problem and will come up with the next steps in the coming days. Both the arrays are still producing power and charging the batteries. NASA had released an official statement stating that “All other subsystems are normal. In the current spacecraft altitude, Lucy can continue to operate with no threat to its health and safety.” 

 

Co-written with Elisha Samuel