Artist depiction of the Lucy spacecraft near a Trojan asteroid. Credit: UH News/NASA
UH Mānoa planetary scientist Emily Costello has been selected by NASA to join its Lucy mission—the first spacecraft to explore the Jupiter Trojan asteroids. Costello, who is a researcher at the Hawaiʻi Institute of Geophysics and Planetology, specializes in impact modeling and will help the team interpret how the asteroids, which are trapped in orbits linked to Jupiter, have been shaped by meteoric collisions over eons. The Trojans are thought to be relics of the early solar system and could reveal insights about planetary formation.
“It’s thrilling to be able to help interpret the first ever close-up look at these likely ancient asteroids,” Costello said. “Impacts are a pervasive geological process on small bodies, so it is critical that we accurately decipher how these impacts shape the formation and evolution of the asteroids.”