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<\/p>\nAfter being shipped to Florida in early August, NASA\u2019s most daring asteroid exploration mission yet \u2014 Lucy \u2014 is now in final launch preparations as the opening of its interplanetary transfer window to Jupiter nears.<\/p>\n
With the launch date just two weeks away, the mission\u2019s Principal Investigator, Dr. Hal Levison, spoke with NASASpaceflight about the mission\u2019s trajectory and what might become of Lucy once its 12-year primary mission has ended.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Mission preparations<\/p>\n
On July 30, 2021, Lucy arrived at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida and was unloaded from a U.S. Air Force C-17 cargo plane and moved to an Astrotech cleanroom.<\/p>\n
There, teams have taken Lucy through final preparations and checkouts for launch including post-shipment inspections to confirm the spacecraft was still in good condition.<\/p>\n
This final campaign included software tests, spacecraft power checks, instrument verification, powered functional tests, communication checkouts, and propulsion propellant load tests. Lucy was then fueled on September 18.<\/p>\n
Eleven days later, the craft was encapsulated inside the Atlas V payload fairing at the Astrotech cleanroom on September 29. Presently, teams are expected to take Lucy to SLC-41 in the coming days where they will mate the craft and fairing to the Atlas V rocket for launch.<\/p>\n
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Lucy in the Astrotech clean room before payload fairing encapsulation \u2014 via Thomas Burghardt for NSF<\/p>\n
With the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, shipment, integration, testing, and assembly of Lucy was a challenge for every team member.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe coronavirus pandemic required us to re-engineer the way we conducted assembly, integration, and testing,\u201d said Lucy Project Manager Donya Douglas-Bradshaw of NASA Goddard. \u201cWhen I think about where the project was a year ago and the challenges we faced, I couldn\u2019t be prouder of the entire team. The fact that the spacecraft is safely at KSC is a testament to the sacrifice and dedication shown by every member of the team and their families.\u201d<\/p>\n
Simultaneous to Lucy\u2019s final preparations, United Launch Alliance (ULA) teams were busy performing their own assembly, integration, and testing of the Atlas V 401 rocket that will launch the mission no earlier than October 16.<\/p>\n
Final assembly of the Atlas V was completed on September 16, with the Centaur upper stage being joined to the first stage booster inside ULA\u2019s Vertical Integration Facility. The first stage on this mission was previously intended to launch the now delayed NASA\/Boeing Orbital Flight Test-2 mission of Starliner in July.<\/p>\n
On October 1, Atlas V, without its payload fairing or Lucy atop, rolled out to SLC-41 for a Wet Dress Rehearsal of the launch countdown to verify that all systems on the rocket and ground are ready to support the short, 23-day launch window for Lucy that opens on October 16.<\/p>\n
The trajectory<\/p>\n
Once it launches, Lucy has an incredibly daunting mission to perform with Trojan asteroids as the focus. Trojans have never been visited by any spacecraft to date, and Lucy is set to uncover their secrets in the late-2020s when it flies past Eurybates, Polymele, Leucus, Orus, and the binary Patroclus\/Menoetius.<\/p>\n