By NASA
October 28, 2021
All other systems are working normally.
Lucy will explore the Jupiter Trojan asteroids– thought to be “fossils of planet development.” Credit: NASAs Goddard Space Flight
The Lucy spacecraft stays in cruise mode, which is the basic flight mode for outgoing flight and enables significant autonomy for the spacecraft. The spacecraft has effectively executed numerous small planned maneuvers, which have actually had no negative impact on the one solar array that is not fully deployed. On October 29, NASA will change Lucys position to point toward Earth in preparation for instrument checkout.
Most recently, the spacecrafts position was changed on October 26 to enable the team to measure just how much electrical current is moving through the partly released solar selection and hence understand how close that array is to the fully locked position. Analysis indicates that the selection is between 75% and 95% deployed. It is currently being held in location by a lanyard, specifically created to assist unfurl the arrays throughout implementation.
An anomaly response team continues to deal with establishing what triggered the solar variety to not fully deploy. NASA and SwRI are assessing a variety of choices, consisting of the possibility of leaving the selection in its present state. Any effort to securely redeploy the range would happen no earlier than Nov. 16.