Leaders of the Lucy mission that is about to begin its journey to Jupiter this week on planetary radio.

Welcome, I'm at Kaplan of the Planetary Society with more of the human adventure across our solar system and beyond.

I lied, Lucy is not going to Jupiter.

In fact, it will never be closer to Jupiter than when it returns to Earth in a slingshot maneuver.

That's how far the Trojan asteroids that share Jupiter's orbit are from our solar system's biggest world.

Our last conversation with Hal Levison, Kathy Olkin, and Mike Sekarak was over two years ago.

Now their spacecraft is prepped and ready to begin the long trip to the outer solar system.

My exclusive and very fun conversation with them is minutes away and includes a cameo appearance by a space fan named Richard Starkey.

You may know him as Ringo Star.

Afterward we'll check in with Bruce Betz who has a space trivia quiz with yet another extended deadline.

We'll begin with these headlines from the downlink, the weekly newsletter from the planetary society.

You can get it for free at planetary.org slash downlink.

The October 8 edition is topped by a photo you'll hear Bruce and me talk about.

It's Mercury, imaged during a brief visit by the European Space Agency's Beppe Colombo spacecraft,

while it was less than 200 kilometers above the surface.

Five more of these encounters are in store before it finally achieves orbit in four years.

Building on its very successful Emirates Mars mission, also known as Hope,

the United Arab Emirates has announced that it will send a probe to explore several asteroids in the main belt,

before finally landing on one in 2033.

I look forward to welcoming back her excellency Sarah Alamiri, chair of the UAE Space Agency for a conversation about this new project.

I didn't hesitate when I received an invitation from Mike Sakurak a few weeks ago.

He wondered if I'd be interested in getting the gang together again.

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