It has been many years since human feet fell on the moon. The robotic vehicle is also moving on the chest of Mars. This time, scientists have started searching for ‘fossils’ in the solar system. As part of that, the US space agency NASA launched a spacecraft on Saturday. The expedition has been named ‘Lucy’. News Reuters.Lucy was launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, USA at 9:34 a.m. Greenwich Mean Time (3:34 p.m. Bangladesh time) on Saturday.
The spacecraft was launched on an Atlas V rocket, a joint venture between Boeing Corporation and Lockheed Martin Corporation. The spacecraft will move towards Jupiter, the largest planet in the solar system.
Many asteroids are orbiting Jupiter. Two of these asteroids were born from fragments of the planet. Lucy will search these clusters.
Scientists say that asteroids are born at the time of the birth of the planet. Detached from the planet, they move to Jupiter. Their expectation is that a search of those asteroids could reveal a lot of important information.
This discovery reveals much about the origin of the earth, and even the structure of the solar system.
NASA said Lucy would carry out the search for 12 years. At this time the spacecraft will work on seven asteroids orbiting Jupiter. NASA researchers speculate that the asteroids are made of carbon compounds. These will give a new idea about the transmission of life and the source of organic matter on earth.
Harold Levison, chief mission director at the Southwest Research Institute in Colorado, said: ‘Asteroids are remnants of the early stages of our solar system. The fossils of our planet formation. ‘
In addition to those asteroids, the Lucy mission will also observe the solar system’s main asteroid belt, Donald Johnson, NASA said. This mission named Lucy is going to make history in another way in space travel. NASA says Lucy’s mission path has been set so that it will return to Earth at the end of space travel.
