When the world was stuck at home due to the pandemic, TikTok became the new favorite app. In 2020, overtook WhatsApp and Facebook and became the most in-demand social app, all over the world as per an analysis created by App Annie. Sensor Tower had also conducted a study recently to back this analysis, it said that TikTok was the only and first app, not owned by Facebook, to cross downloads of 3 billion.

Overtaking Facebook

TikTok, the first app, which is a first non-Facebook-owned one, is the only one to have achieved this feat. Its popularity kept growing in spite of threats of bans from the government. It was even removed from digital stores in India, which was one of its largest markets. The world kept using this app and so, its popularity continued to grow exponentially. As per the study conducted by Sensor Tower, TikTok occupied the fifth position as the most popular non-gaming app, which has always been the domain of the social media giant Facebook. WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram, and Messenger are the only other apps that have reached this mark.

TikTok Is Diversifying its Offerings to Fans

There was a global survey conducted with regards to downloads done in 2020. It showed that the video-sharing application TikTok, which was developed somewhere in China, topped the list of providers of social media for the very first time. The last time this study was conducted was back in 2018. The popularity of Telegram also grew over rising concerns of privacy. This messaging app gave users the option to delete their posts even after they had posted them and so, it also ranked pretty high. This was during the pandemic when the use of social media and other digital apps was on a high. As for TikTok, the social app has been diversifying its offerings by adding features like Snapchat-esque stories and video resumes, in this month alone.

NASA never stops to amaze us with its super-scientific cards under its sleeve. This time, NASA has launched its newest asteroid probing spacecraft, named Lucy, on a super-ambitious space journey. The initiative is designed to get better knowledge about the final unexplored regions of asteroids within the whole solar system.

The Mission

Launched from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, Lucy is set to embark on a 12 years-long mission to study Trojans, which are two different swarms of asteroids around the orbit of Jupiter. Working like a robotic archaeologist, Lucy will help the scientists learn about the initial formation of the giant planet. It will visit through eight asteroids altogether.

The Spacecraft

Sized like a refrigerator, Lucy lit up the sky above Cape Canaveral during its launch. A United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V rocket was used to perch the spacecraft on top during launching. It leaped off its launch pad exactly at 5:34 AM EDT (0934 GMT) on October 16, Saturday. By two hours after the successful launch, NASA confirmed the successful deployment of Lucy’s solar arrays in the destination.

The Process

For the coming six years, Lucy will travel through the solar system, circling Earth, twice. This is essential for building up the necessary momentum to reach Jupiter. Among the eight different asteroids, the spacecraft will cover, seven are Trojans located in two separate clusters. One cluster is located ahead of Jupiter and its orbit, and the other is behind. One single asteroid is placed on the main belt of the massive planet.

The Asteroids

According to the researchers, Asteroids are scientifically important, because they are essentially leftovers from the initialization of the solar system. Being perfectly preserved cosmic time capsules, these Trojans can be highly helpful to shed more light on the origin of the solar system along with its giant planets, if studied properly. With the help of a number of scientific instruments, Lucy will thoroughly study the structure, composition, density, and geology of each of the eight asteroids.