Illustration of lucy shuttle in space wth australopithecus afarensis

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.

asteroid belt imageArtist'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!

 

View Citation

You may need to edit author's name to meet the style formats, which are in most cases "Last name, First name."

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: March 29, 2024
  • Link: https://askananthropologist.asu.edu/lucy-in-space

APA Style

. (2020, Jun 29). Lucy in Space. Retrieved March 29, 2024, 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 2024 March 29.

Modern Language Association, 8th ed., 2016.
For more info, see the MLA citation guide.

What does an anthropologist do?
Answer »

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.

Donate icon  Contribute