News > Lucy spacecraft set to swing by Earth to reach Jupiter asteroids

Lucy spacecraft set to swing by Earth to reach Jupiter asteroids

Dais Newsfeed | 15/10/2022 07:27 PM | Click to read full article

A NASA spacecraft named Lucy, the first mission to the Jupiter Trojan asteroids, will skim the earth's atmosphere, passing a mere 350 km above the surface on October 16, to gain some of the orbital energy it needs to travel to this never-before-visited population of asteroids.

The Trojan asteroids are trapped in orbits around the Sun at the same distance as Jupiter, either far ahead of or behind the giant planet. 

-