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NASA is continuous to analyze what’s improper with the photo voltaic array of Lucy, its spacecraft launched final week to go to the Trojan asteroids however says that the spacecraft is wholesome and is touring alongside the right trajectory.
Lucy was launched final Saturday, October 16, and the launch went off efficiently with none points. Nonetheless, hours after liftoff, there was an issue when the spacecraft went to deploy its 24-feet-wide photo voltaic arrays. One array deployed as deliberate, however the different array did not lock into place.
A technician at Lockheed Martin Area in Denver, Colorado, inspects one in every of Lucy’s photo voltaic arrays throughout its first deployment in January 2021. Lockheed Martin
Since then, technicians have been working to determine what the precise drawback is. The photo voltaic arrays are so massive that they must be folded up for launch to suit into the rocket, then they’re designed to unfurl as soon as the craft is in house. Nonetheless, for causes which stay unclear, one of many arrays solely partially unfurled.
The excellent news is that even not totally unfurled, the array can nonetheless gather solar energy. NASA says the array is “producing almost the anticipated energy” and that the mixed energy of this and the opposite totally deployed array “is sufficient to hold the spacecraft wholesome and functioning.”
The craft had been in protected mode (a minimal, primary model of its operations) whereas the difficulty was investigated, however on Wednesday, October 20, the craft transitioned into cruise mode efficiently. That signifies that the craft will probably be making extra autonomous changes because it travels, and it’s working as anticipated thus far.
“The spacecraft stays secure, energy optimistic, with all different subsystems working, except one photo voltaic array,” NASA wrote in an replace.
The replace went on to say that the group will proceed testing to search out out what went improper with the photo voltaic array deployment earlier than they try to finish the deployment course of: “NASA is reviewing spacecraft information, together with utilizing methods to measure how a lot electrical present is produced by the array throughout numerous spacecraft positions and attitudes. It will enable the group to grasp how shut the array is to the latched place. These methods are nicely throughout the capabilities of the system and pose no danger. Any plans for re-deployment will probably be thought of after finishing this newest evaluation.”
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