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Earlier on Saturday, NASA is sending a spacecraft toward two asteroid clusters in Jupiter’s orbital neighborhood, its latest mission to hunt for insights into the formation of our solar system.

Here’s what you need to know about the launch.

When and how can I watch the launch?

The launch is scheduled for 5:34 a.m. Eastern time from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla. NASA plans to broadcast the launch live on YouTube on a schedule that begins at 5 a.m. Or you can watch it in the video player embedded above.

As of Friday, NASA predicts weather conditions will be 90 percent favorable for a launch. But if something delays takeoff on time, the spacecraft has a 23-day launch window from Saturday. If not launched within this timeframe, the spacecraft would have to wait up to a year until the celestial bodies realign along its complex orbit through space, as they are now lined up.

What is Lucy?

The Lucy probe, named after a fossilized skeleton early hominid ancestor It will use a host of scientific tools that are transforming our understanding of human evolution, to analyze Trojan asteroids – celestial fossils that scientists on the mission hope will transform human knowledge of the formation of the solar system.

The total cost of the mission, with a spacecraft run by the Southwest Research Institute and built by Lockheed Martin for NASA, is $981 million. The spacecraft is roughly the size of a small car and weighs about 3,300 pounds when fueled. Before launch, the probe was folded inside the Atlas 5 rocket, built by the United Launch Alliance.

Its scientific instruments include the L’TES or Lucy Thermal Emission Spectrometer – a telescope designed to scan asteroid surfaces for infrared radiation and measure how quickly or slowly the surfaces of space rocks heat and cool when exposed to the sun’s heat. Built by scientists at Arizona State University, the device is essentially an advanced thermometer. Analyzing how quickly asteroids generate heat gives scientists an idea of ​​how much dust and rocky material is scattered on their surfaces.

Another device is the L’LORRI or Lucy Long Range Reconnaissance Imager, built by engineers and scientists at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory. This telescope will capture black and white images of the asteroids’ surfaces, revealing long-dark craters and ridges.

Lucy’s third vehicle, L’Ralph, has both a color camera and an infrared spectrometer. Each instrument is designed to detect bands of light emitted by ices and minerals that scientists expect to be found on the surfaces of asteroids.

How long does the job take?

The spacecraft will spend 12 years hunting eight asteroids, embarking on a complex path that uses Earth’s gravity three times to sling itself around the sun and through a herd of two Trojan horses under the influence of Jupiter’s gravity. Going from one side of Jupiter’s orbital path to the other, Lucy will travel nearly four billion miles during her primary mission.

What are Trojan asteroids?

Trojan asteroids are swarms of rocky material left over from the formation of our solar system 4.6 billion years ago. No spacecraft has ever visited asteroids on either side of Jupiter and orbiting the sun in the same orbit, but far away from the giant planet.

Before reaching the Trojans, it will fly past an asteroid named after the scientist Donald Johanson, who discovered the Lucy skeleton, in the main belt between Mars and Jupiter. The spacecraft will first visit 52246 Donaldjohanson in April 2025 and then continue on to its main objectives.

Lucy will make six flights of Trojan asteroids, one of which has a small satellite, and visit seven Trojans. The observations should give scientists a diverse set of asteroid material to analyze on Earth.

What do scientists hope to learn from the Lucy mission?

Trojan asteroids lurked in the dark and are nearly impossible to analyze. Scientists expect them to be an unexplored source of data for testing theoretical models about the formation of the solar system and how planets arrive in their current orbits around the sun.

What other deep space missions does NASA have coming soon?

Two more asteroid missions will eventually follow Lucy:

• DART: Launched in November, NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirect Test (DART) mission involves hitting an asteroid to deflect a spacecraft from its course. The mission is testing a planetary defense method that could one day come in handy should an asteroid threaten Earth.

• James Webb Space Telescope: Nearly $10 billion follow-up of NASA’s famous Hubble telescope, Webb finally, Launch in December. It will study planets orbiting distant stars and look for light from the first galaxies formed after the Big Bang.

• Artemis-1: NASA aims to launch an uncrewed Orion astronaut capsule in the coming months. massive Space Launch System rocket around the moon and behind. This is the first mission under the agency’s Artemis program, which aims to one day send American astronauts back to the moon.

• Psyche: Next year, NASA is scheduled to send a probe Psyche, a metallic asteroid in the belt between Mars and Jupiter It is made of nickel and iron, similar to the core of an early planetary body. Like the asteroids of Lucy’s mission, it could provide clues to the formation of our solar system.

• Europa Clipper: In 2024, NASA plans to send a spacecraft to Jupiter. icy moon europe and determine whether the subterranean ocean could harbor life.