Lucy: The First Mission to the Trojan Asteroids – Dr. Joel Parker (11.9.2023)

Monday 11.9.2023 at 14:00, Lecture room F1 108

---

Dr. Joel Parker (Southwest Research Institute, Boulder, Colorado, USA):
Lucy: The First Mission to the Trojan Asteroids

Abstract:
The Lucy mission launched on October 16, 2021 to begin a 12-year journey to explore the Jupiter Trojans, the last major reservoir of Solar System small bodies not yet explored by spacecraft. The Trojans are a key dynamical class that likely have remained stable in their distant orbits for billions of years, containing a sample of bodies from different parts of the Solar System captured after migration of the outer planets. As such, they can be considered as well-preserved "fossils" of the early epoch of planetary formation. I will present an overview of the Lucy mission and spacecraft, the science motivations and what we currently know about the Trojans, and what has happened so far in the first two years of the mission.

---