After its successful first asteroid encounter in 2023, NASA’s Lucy mission has its sights firmly set on its main targets, the never-before-explored Jupiter Trojan asteroids. In 2024, the Lucy spacecraft will transition from its current orbit around the sun—one that just skims the inner-edge of the main asteroid belt—to a new orbit that will carry it beyond the orbit of Jupiter and into the realm of the Trojan asteroids. This will be done in two steps: A series of deep space maneuvers and an Earth gravity assist. …read more