NASA scientists are seriously puzzled by the study of the early periods of the solar system – less than 10 million years after the formation of the sun. To this end, the space agency selected two missions at once, and chose two missions, named 'Lucy' and 'Psyche'. These missions were selected from five finalists in the competition and development for them will begin in 2021 and 2023, respectively.
“The Lucy mission will explore the rich environment of Jupiter's mysterious Trojan asteroids, while Psyche will explore a unique metallic asteroid, a type of asteroid that has never been studied before,” said Thomas Zurbuchen, Assistant Administrator of the Office NASA scientific flights in Washington DC.
The Lucy project involves the creation of a robotic spacecraft, which will be launched in October 2021. It is planned that its first destination will be the main asteroid belt, which it will reach in 2025. From 2027 to 2033, Lucy will explore six Trojan asteroids on Jupiter. It is believed that these asteroids were trapped in a kind of gravitational trap of Jupiter.
The Psyche mission will investigate one of the most intriguing targets in the main asteroid belt, a giant metallic asteroid known as Psyche 16, about three times farther from the Sun than Earth. This asteroid, approximately 210 km in diameter, is composed primarily of iron and nickel and has a composition reminiscent of the core of the Earth, making it significantly different from most other asteroids. There is a version that Psyche in the past was a planet the size of Mars, but lost its rocky outer layers due to a number of cosmic collisions that she had to endure over billions of years.
Sources: NASA
