By Eric Dougherty
During a recent holiday in the USA, Eric from Turmalin class was lucky enough to witness a rocket launch (we really wish we could have been there, too).
He was so impressed by what he saw that he decided to write an article for the school newspaper, adding a video he found on the NASA website and his own drawing.
Thanks, Eric, for this fascinating information!
On the 16th of October 2021 at 5:34am NASA launched a rocket called “Lucy” from Cape Canaveral, Florida, USA.
The rocket was launched towards the Trojan asteroids. Asteroids are leftovers from the formation of our solar system, which was about 4.6 billion years ago. The asteroids help scientists find out more about the history of the universe.
Asteroids are small rocks. Some are hundreds of miles in diameter, but many are as small as pebbles. Asteroids have jagged and irregular shapes. They orbit the sun as planets do, but still, they are much smaller than planets. There are many asteroids in our solar system. Most of them live in the main asteroid belt.
The asteroid belt is a place between the orbits of Jupiter and Mars. The Trojan asteroids travel in two groups. One group travels in front of Jupiter in its orbit and one behind.
The rocket is called Lucy because some time ago scientists found a fossilized person who they thought was a woman and they called her Lucy.
That is where the mission got its name from because it explores the history of the solar system just as the woman gave clues to the history of humans. Lucy will travel for twelve years to eight different asteroids.
