{"id":20592,"date":"2017-01-09T11:16:17","date_gmt":"2017-01-09T16:16:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sciencescosmaincms.cm.ucf.edu\/news\/?p=20592"},"modified":"2017-01-09T11:16:51","modified_gmt":"2017-01-09T16:16:51","slug":"professors-research-part-first-mission-trojan-asteroids","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/professors-research-part-first-mission-trojan-asteroids\/","title":{"rendered":"Professor\u2019s Research Part of First Mission to Trojan Asteroids"},"content":{"rendered":"

Story by\u00a0Zenaida Gonzalez Kotala, UCF Today<\/em><\/p>\n

\"Credits:

Credits: SwRI and SSL\/Peter Rubin<\/p><\/div>\n

University of Central Florida Physics Professor Dan Britt, Ph.D.<\/a>, will help explore some of the oldest asteroids in the solar system thanks to a new NASA mission.<\/p>\n

NASA, this month selected the Lucy mission, which will explore Jupiter\u2019s Trojan asteroids for the first-time. The robotic spacecraft will also explore a larger asteroid within the asteroid belt. Scientists said they believe the Trojan belt is home to some of the oldest remnants of the solar system.<\/p>\n

Information gleaned from this mission is expected to help mankind understand the formation of planets and the solar system. That\u2019s why the team named its project Lucy \u2013 after the female skeleton fossil discovered in 1974, which changed the understanding of human origins on Earth.<\/p>\n

The Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colo., will lead the mission, and Britt is serving on its science team and leading one of its Science Working Groups. Britt, director of the Center for Lunar & Asteroid Surface Science at UCF <\/a>, will provide his expertise in physical properties of asteroids and their geology.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt should be a lot of fun,\u201d Britt said. \u201cThis mission has six flybys of the asteroids because of its trajectory and it has relatively low risks. Given the information we will be able to collect, it is quite an attractive mission.\u201d<\/p>\n

Several of the Lucy members are veterans from the New Horizons mission that helped shed new light on Pluto. Lucy is expected to launch from Kennedy Space Center in 2021.<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause the Trojans are remnants of the primordial material that formed the outer planets, they hold vital clues to deciphering the history of the solar system,\u201d said principal investigator Harold Levison, Ph.D. \u201cLucy, like the human fossil for which it is named, will revolutionize the understanding of our origins.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lucy is part of NASA\u2019s Discovery Program. The Discovery Program \u00a0was created in 1992 to sponsor frequent, cost-capped solar system exploration missions ($450 million) with highly focused scientific goals. Past missions include MESSENGER, Dawn, Stardust, Deep Impact, Genesis and GRAIL.<\/p>\n

View original story here.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Story by\u00a0Zenaida Gonzalez Kotala, UCF Today University of Central Florida Physics Professor Dan Britt, Ph.D., will help explore some of the oldest asteroids in the solar system thanks to a new NASA mission. NASA, this month selected the Lucy mission, which will explore Jupiter\u2019s Trojan asteroids for the first-time. The robotic spacecraft will also explore […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":120,"featured_media":20594,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[38,39,13,14,15,27,28,29,1],"tags":[4045,840,843,1515,4043,1924,2376,4046,4042,4044,3457,3516,3608,3610],"class_list":["post-20592","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-breaking-news","category-faculty-news","category-news","category-physics-departments","category-planetary-sciences","category-stem","category-top-news","category-ucf-news","category-uncategorized","tag-center-for-lunar-asteroid-surface-science-at-ucf","tag-dan-britt","tag-daniel-britt","tag-harold-levison","tag-jupiters-trojan-asteroids","tag-kennedy-space-center","tag-nasa","tag-nasas-discovery-program","tag-the-lucy-mission","tag-the-southwest-research-institute-in-boulder","tag-ucf","tag-ucf-college-of-sciences","tag-ucf-physics","tag-ucf-physics-department"],"yoast_head":"\nProfessor\u2019s Research Part of First Mission to Trojan Asteroids - College of Sciences News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/professors-research-part-first-mission-trojan-asteroids\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Professor\u2019s Research Part of First Mission to Trojan Asteroids - College of Sciences News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Story by\u00a0Zenaida Gonzalez Kotala, UCF Today University of Central Florida Physics Professor Dan Britt, Ph.D., will help explore some of the oldest asteroids in the solar system thanks to a new NASA mission. NASA, this month selected the Lucy mission, which will explore Jupiter\u2019s Trojan asteroids for the first-time. The robotic spacecraft will also explore […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/professors-research-part-first-mission-trojan-asteroids\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"College of Sciences News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-01-09T16:16:17+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2017-01-09T16:16:51+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Julia Anderson\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:image\" content=\"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/29\/2017\/01\/discovery-missions-v3-e1483978461971.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Julia Anderson\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/professors-research-part-first-mission-trojan-asteroids\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/professors-research-part-first-mission-trojan-asteroids\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Julia Anderson\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/6351d7b539198ab5410a0f11a1c6be65\"},\"headline\":\"Professor\u2019s Research Part of First Mission to Trojan Asteroids\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-01-09T16:16:17+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-01-09T16:16:51+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/professors-research-part-first-mission-trojan-asteroids\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":367,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/professors-research-part-first-mission-trojan-asteroids\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/29\\\/2017\\\/01\\\/discovery-missions-v3-e1483978497146.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Center for Lunar & Asteroid Surface Science at UCF\",\"Dan Britt\",\"Daniel Britt\",\"Harold Levison\",\"Jupiter\u2019s Trojan asteroids\",\"Kennedy Space Center\",\"nasa\",\"NASA\u2019s Discovery Program\",\"the Lucy mission\",\"The Southwest Research Institute in Boulder\",\"UCF\",\"UCF College of Sciences\",\"UCF Physics\",\"UCF Physics Department\"],\"articleSection\":[\"COS News\",\"Faculty News\",\"News\",\"Physics\",\"Planetary Sciences\",\"STEM\",\"Top News\",\"UCF News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/professors-research-part-first-mission-trojan-asteroids\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/professors-research-part-first-mission-trojan-asteroids\\\/\",\"name\":\"Professor\u2019s Research Part of First Mission to Trojan Asteroids - College of Sciences News\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/professors-research-part-first-mission-trojan-asteroids\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/professors-research-part-first-mission-trojan-asteroids\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/29\\\/2017\\\/01\\\/discovery-missions-v3-e1483978497146.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-01-09T16:16:17+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-01-09T16:16:51+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/6351d7b539198ab5410a0f11a1c6be65\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/professors-research-part-first-mission-trojan-asteroids\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/professors-research-part-first-mission-trojan-asteroids\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/29\\\/2017\\\/01\\\/discovery-missions-v3-e1483978497146.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/29\\\/2017\\\/01\\\/discovery-missions-v3-e1483978497146.jpg\",\"width\":300,\"height\":168,\"caption\":\"Credits: SwRI and SSL\\\/Peter Rubin\"},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/\",\"name\":\"College of Sciences News\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/6351d7b539198ab5410a0f11a1c6be65\",\"name\":\"Julia Anderson\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/9def00088216df124dd473c9363172d70ffad907c679622e4d55bc5cbd1ee114?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/9def00088216df124dd473c9363172d70ffad907c679622e4d55bc5cbd1ee114?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/9def00088216df124dd473c9363172d70ffad907c679622e4d55bc5cbd1ee114?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Julia Anderson\"},\"url\":\"\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Professor\u2019s Research Part of First Mission to Trojan Asteroids - College of Sciences News","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/professors-research-part-first-mission-trojan-asteroids\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Professor\u2019s Research Part of First Mission to Trojan Asteroids - College of Sciences News","og_description":"Story by\u00a0Zenaida Gonzalez Kotala, UCF Today University of Central Florida Physics Professor Dan Britt, Ph.D., will help explore some of the oldest asteroids in the solar system thanks to a new NASA mission. NASA, this month selected the Lucy mission, which will explore Jupiter\u2019s Trojan asteroids for the first-time. The robotic spacecraft will also explore […]","og_url":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/professors-research-part-first-mission-trojan-asteroids\/","og_site_name":"College of Sciences News","article_published_time":"2017-01-09T16:16:17+00:00","article_modified_time":"2017-01-09T16:16:51+00:00","author":"Julia Anderson","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_image":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/29\/2017\/01\/discovery-missions-v3-e1483978461971.jpg","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Julia Anderson","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/professors-research-part-first-mission-trojan-asteroids\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/professors-research-part-first-mission-trojan-asteroids\/"},"author":{"name":"Julia Anderson","@id":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/6351d7b539198ab5410a0f11a1c6be65"},"headline":"Professor\u2019s Research Part of First Mission to Trojan Asteroids","datePublished":"2017-01-09T16:16:17+00:00","dateModified":"2017-01-09T16:16:51+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/professors-research-part-first-mission-trojan-asteroids\/"},"wordCount":367,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/professors-research-part-first-mission-trojan-asteroids\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/29\/2017\/01\/discovery-missions-v3-e1483978497146.jpg","keywords":["Center for Lunar & Asteroid Surface Science at UCF","Dan Britt","Daniel Britt","Harold Levison","Jupiter\u2019s Trojan asteroids","Kennedy Space Center","nasa","NASA\u2019s Discovery Program","the Lucy mission","The Southwest Research Institute in Boulder","UCF","UCF College of Sciences","UCF Physics","UCF Physics Department"],"articleSection":["COS News","Faculty News","News","Physics","Planetary Sciences","STEM","Top News","UCF News"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/professors-research-part-first-mission-trojan-asteroids\/","url":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/professors-research-part-first-mission-trojan-asteroids\/","name":"Professor\u2019s Research Part of First Mission to Trojan Asteroids - College of Sciences News","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/professors-research-part-first-mission-trojan-asteroids\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/professors-research-part-first-mission-trojan-asteroids\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/29\/2017\/01\/discovery-missions-v3-e1483978497146.jpg","datePublished":"2017-01-09T16:16:17+00:00","dateModified":"2017-01-09T16:16:51+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/6351d7b539198ab5410a0f11a1c6be65"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/professors-research-part-first-mission-trojan-asteroids\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/professors-research-part-first-mission-trojan-asteroids\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/29\/2017\/01\/discovery-missions-v3-e1483978497146.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/29\/2017\/01\/discovery-missions-v3-e1483978497146.jpg","width":300,"height":168,"caption":"Credits: SwRI and SSL\/Peter Rubin"},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/","name":"College of Sciences News","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/6351d7b539198ab5410a0f11a1c6be65","name":"Julia Anderson","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9def00088216df124dd473c9363172d70ffad907c679622e4d55bc5cbd1ee114?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9def00088216df124dd473c9363172d70ffad907c679622e4d55bc5cbd1ee114?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9def00088216df124dd473c9363172d70ffad907c679622e4d55bc5cbd1ee114?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Julia Anderson"},"url":""}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20592","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/120"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20592"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20592\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20594"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20592"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20592"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20592"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}