NASA’s Lucy spacecraft has been touring by way of house on its approach to go to the Trojan asteroids since its launch in October final yr, however the crew has needed to take care of an surprising challenge with its deployment.
The issue is with one among Lucy’s two photo voltaic arrays. These wanted to be folded up for launch so the spacecraft might match inside its launch automobile, then they deployed as soon as Lucy reached house. The arrays deployed by unfolding, fan-like, into two distinctive spherical shapes which ought to then have been latched into place.
However one photo voltaic array did not latch appropriately after deployment on October 17, 2021. The array was virtually utterly deployed and was nonetheless able to offering photo voltaic power to the spacecraft, nevertheless it was not secured in place because it ought to have been. The mission crew opted to proceed with the craft coming into cruise mode as deliberate as a result of the mixed two arrays had been producing sufficient energy for the mission to go forward.
Now, although, NASA needs to attempt to lock the array in place as soon as once more. Engineers on the bottom have been performing assessments and taking a look at knowledge from the spacecraft and have concluded that the array in query is open to 345 out of 360 levels and continues to be producing sufficient energy. However there are considerations that if and when the spacecraft fires its fundamental engine, the unlocked photo voltaic array could possibly be broken.
In a current update, NASA shared that on Monday, April 18, the crew determined to go forward with making an attempt to repair the array into its correct place. To try this, they are going to work with the motor which controls the array deployment. “After launch, the arrays had been opened by a small motor that reels in a lanyard connected to each ends of the folded photo voltaic array,” NASA writes. “The crew estimates that 20 to 40 inches of this lanyard (out of roughly 290 inches complete) stays to be retracted for the open array to latch.”
The array has each a main and a backup motor for this deployment, so engineers will attempt to use each of those motors collectively to tug the lanyard by way of and permit the array to latch into place. Testing means that the extra torque from utilizing each motors could also be sufficient to tug the lanyard out of its snag.
Enacting this plan would require two steps. Step one, scheduled to start within the week of Could 9, is to tug the lanyard taut, which is able to enable the crew to examine that the spacecraft is in the identical situation because the testing on the bottom and also will assist to strengthen the array. The second step, scheduled for a month after the first step if every part goes effectively, will probably be to make use of the 2 motors to attempt to pull the array into place.
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