Lucy in Space Contest
Winning entries have been notified!
Thank you to the students and teachers who participated in the contest!
CONGRATULATIONS TO
Middle School Students
First Place—Tim Topping, 8th Grade
St. Mary Catholic School, Littleton CO
Second Place—Jane Hanselman, 8th Grade
St. Mary Catholic School, Littleton CO
Third Place—Annemarie Stanga, 8th Grade
St. Mary Catholic School, Littleton CO
High School Students
First Place—Sarah Tran, 11th Grade
Hamilton High School, Chandler AZ
Second Place—Aarav Gupta, 9th Grade
Bellamine College Prep, San Jose CA
Third Place—Tsehai Alfred, 10th Grade
Good Hope Country Day School, Kingshill, US Virgin Islands
Honorable Mentions—Middle School
Sanjana Bhatta, 8th Grade
Hillsborough Middle School, Hillsborough NJ
View PDF of this entry
Lucy Deady, 8th Grade
East Middle School, Plymouth MI
View PDF of this entry
Laurel Gerali, 8th Grade
St. Mary Catholic School, Littleton CO
View PDF of this entry
Cecilia Guerrera, 8th Grade
St. Mary Catholic School, Littleton CO
View PDF of this entry
Navya Jain, 6th Grade
Arizona College Prep Oakland, Chandler AZ
View PDF of this entry
Tierney Williams, 8th Grade
Colorado Academy, Denver CO
View PDF of this entry
Kevin Zhang, 6th Grade
Arizona College Prep Oakland, Chandler AZ
View PDF of this entry
Honorable Mentions—High School
Mathieu Dale, 12th Grade
Good Hope Country Day School, Kingshill, US Virgin Islands
View PDF of this entry
Tate Given, 10th Grade
Good Hope Country Day School, Kingshill, US Virgin Islands
View PDF of this entry
Elizabeth Jesse Johnson, 11th Grade
Whitnall High School, Greenfield WI
View PDF of this entry
Emily Mohammed, 10th Grade
Good Hope Country Day School, Kingshill, US Virgin Islands
View PDF of this entry
Kaci Romanwolfe, 12th Grade
Palatine High School, Palatine IL
View PDF of this entry
Shana Sargeant, 11th Grade
Good Hope Country Day School, Kingshill, US Virgin Islands
View PDF of this entry
Ajla Trumic, 9th Grade
Santa Clara High School, Santa Clara CA
View PDF of this entry
THE CONTEST
For the contest,middle school students designed a “mission patch” showing how the process of evolution on Earth may parallel the evolution of the solar system and explained their design with a poem or short essay.
High school students explored the idea of how the Lucy Spacecraft will stay in orbit around the Sun for millions of years and created a message in the form of original artwork (drawing, paintings, digital images, photographs, photographs of sculptures) to future humans who may someday find, highlighting humankind’s drive to explore, discover, and understand our origins—on Earth and in the Solar System.
THE LUCY MISSION
What's the connection between a 3.2 million year old fossil and a NASA mission to the Trojan asteroids? Learn about the Lucy Fossil and the NASA Lucy Mission and tell your own story of human exploration!
What the Lucy Mission is all about
The NASA Lucy Mission to the Jupiter Trojan asteroids was named by a Southwest Research Institute team led by Principal Investigator Hal Levison and Deputy Principal Investigator Cathy Olkin in honor of the 3.2-million-year-old human ancestor fossil “Lucy,” discovered by Donald Johanson, Founding Director of the Institute of Human Origins at Arizona State University.
The Lucy Mission will be the first space mission to explore a group of small asteroids known as the Trojan asteroids. These asteroid groups are outer Solar System asteroids that orbit the sun in the same path as Jupiter—some asteroids are in front of the planet as it orbits, and some asteroids trail the planet as it makes its way around the sun.
Artist's conception of the Trojan asteroids orbiting in front of and trailing Jupiter and the Lucy Mission spacecraft. Image courtesy NASA/SwRI.
The gas giant is massive enough that normally it scatters away all asteroids in its vicinity, but, due to the combined gravitational influences of the Sun and Jupiter, these Trojan asteroids have been trapped on stable orbits for billions of years. These asteroids provide a unique, never-before-explored sample of the remnants of our early Solar System.
So—just as the Lucy fossil provided unique insights into humanity’s evolution, the Lucy Mission promises to revolutionize our knowledge of planetary origins and the formation of the Solar System.
Join the mission!
- The Lucy Mission is expected to launch around October 16, 2021—this year!
- Read more about the fossil skeleton Lucy here
- Read more about the Lucy Mission here.
- Read about how ASU scientists are designing instruments for the spacecraft here.
View Citation
Bibliographic Details
- Article: Lucy in Space
- Author(s):
- Publisher: Arizona State University Institute of Human Origins Ask An Anthropologist
- Site name: ASU - Ask An Anthropologist
- Date published: June 29, 2020
- Date modified: May 28, 2021
- Date accessed: December 03, 2023
- Link: https://askananthropologist.asu.edu/lucy-in-space
APA Style
. (2020, Jun 29). Lucy in Space. Retrieved December 03, 2023, from https://askananthropologist.asu.edu/lucy-in-space
American Psychological Association, 6th ed., 2nd printing, 2009.
For more info, see the APA citation guide.
Chicago Manual of Style
. "Lucy in Space." ASU - Ask An Anthropologist. Published June 29, 2020. Last modified May 28, 2021. https://askananthropologist.asu.edu/lucy-in-space.
Chicago Manual of Style, 17th ed., 2017.
For more info, see the Chicago Manual citation guide.
MLA Style
. Lucy in Space. ASU - Ask An Anthropologist. June 29, 2020, askananthropologist.asu.edu/lucy-in-space. Accessed 2023 December 03.
Modern Language Association, 8th ed., 2016.
For more info, see the MLA citation guide.
Be part of Ask An Anthropologist
By volunteering, or simply sending us feedback on the site. Scientists, teachers, writers, illustrators, and translators are all important to the program. If you are interested in helping with the website we have a volunteers page to get the process started.
