By NASA
January 13, 2022
NASAs Lucy mission is the first spacecraft introduced to explore the Trojan asteroids, a population of primitive asteroids orbiting in tandem with Jupiter. Credit: NASAs Goddard Space Flight Center
The Lucy spacecraft, released on October 16, 2021, is now over 30 million miles, or 48 million kilometers, from Earth and continues to run securely in “outbound cruise” mode. A solar selection that didnt lock after release– an issue the mission group is working to solve– all spacecraft systems are normal. The selections are producing ample energy, charging the spacecrafts battery as expected under regular operating conditions.
The current plan supports a lock effort in the late April timeframe; however, the group is continuing to study the possibility of leaving the variety as is. In the meantime, in the laboratory, they are evaluating a double motor solar array implementation using both the backup and primary motor. If engaging both motors at the same time applies enough force to finish the release and latch the solar variety, the testing aims to determine.
In addition to the solar range activity, the group continues to run regular operations on the spacecraft. The next activity is adjusting guidance, navigation & & control hardware to guarantee pointing precision of the spacecraft.
On January 5, Lucy completed a test to take a look at the dynamics of the spacecraft in order to characterize the solar selection.