Surface Geology of Jupiter’s Trojan Asteroids

The surface geology of Jupiter’s Trojan asteroids is one of the scientific investigations of the NASA Lucy mission. A dedicated Geology Working Group will implement these studies using primarily panchromatic and color imaging data and complement the interpretation of these data with theoretical models, such as collisional evolution models. The Lucy Science Team will also rely on experience and lessons learned from prior space missions, such as NASA’s NEAR, Dawn, OSIRIS-REx, and New Horizons. A chief goal of the Geology Working Group is to map craters and characterize their morphology across Lucy target’s surfaces over a range of spatial resolutions. These data will be used to constrain the relative and absolute ages of terrains and their impactor size-frequency distributions. More broadly, impact-related processes such as excavation and mass wasting will inform other investigations, including geological unit mapping, stratigraphy and topography, surface composition, and internal structure. Lucy’s cratering data and morphology will also be used to perform comparative analyses with similar data from other small bodies across the Solar System, from Main Belt asteroids to Kuiper Belt objects. The present article provides an overview of the planned activities and methodologies of the Geology Working Group.