Small-body mission · NASA / SwRI

Lucy

A NASA Discovery mission on a twelve-year tour of the Jupiter Trojans — ancient asteroids trapped at Jupiter's Lagrange points that are fossils of planet formation. It is the first mission to these bodies, with main-belt asteroid flybys along the way.

ActiveFlyby Mission

This is the small-body-missions view of Lucy. See its main mission page for the full profile.

Targets & sample

Target bodies:617 Patroclus

Also:The Jupiter Trojans Eurybates, Polymele, Leucus, Orus, and the Patroclus–Menoetius binary, plus the main-belt asteroids Dinkinesh (flown by 2023) and Donaldjohanson (2025)

Mission & science

Goals: Survey a diverse set of Jupiter Trojans to probe the raw material of the outer Solar System.
Engineering milestones: Flew by the small main-belt asteroid Dinkinesh (2023), discovering its contact-binary moonlet; Trojan encounters begin in 2027.
Outcome: In its cruise and early-flyby phase.
Known limitations: The Trojan encounters (including Patroclus in 2033) have not yet happened.

Knowledge connections

Operated byNASA
Part of programDiscovery Program
Launched byAtlas V
Launched fromCape Canaveral Space Force Station
Target of617 Patroclus
Member of groupFlyby Mission
Associated withLaunch & Cruise
Tracked byDeep Space Network (DSN)

Sources

Facts on this topic will be cited from these primary and reference sources.

NASANational Aeronautics and Space Administration
Mission data, planetary science, space telescopes, and public-domain imagery.
Most NASA-produced imagery is in the public domain; individual items are checked for usage terms before publication.

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Mission & science

Goals

Survey a diverse set of Jupiter Trojans to probe the raw material of the outer Solar System.

Engineering milestones

Flew by the small main-belt asteroid Dinkinesh (2023), discovering its contact-binary moonlet; Trojan encounters begin in 2027.

Outcome

In its cruise and early-flyby phase.

Known limitations

The Trojan encounters (including Patroclus in 2033) have not yet happened.

Sources

Facts on this topic will be cited from these primary and reference sources.

NASANational Aeronautics and Space Administration

Mission data, planetary science, space telescopes, and public-domain imagery.

Most NASA-produced imagery is in the public domain; individual items are checked for usage terms before publication.