Lucy will check out the Jupiter Trojan asteroids– believed to be “fossils of planet formation.” Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center
The Lucy spacecraft stays in cruise mode, which is the basic flight mode for outgoing flight and permits significant autonomy for the spacecraft. The spacecraft has actually effectively carried out a number of little prepared maneuvers, which have actually had no unfavorable impact on the one solar variety that is not completely released. On October 29, NASA will change Lucy’s position to point towards Earth in preparation for instrument checkout.
Most just recently, the spacecraft’s position was changed on October 26 to enable the group to determine just how much electrical current is moving through the partly released solar variety and hence comprehend how close that variety is to the completely locked position. Analysis suggests that the variety is in between 75% and 95% released. It is presently being kept in location by a lanyard, particularly developed to assist unfurl the ranges throughout implementation.
An anomaly action group continues to deal with developing what triggered the solar variety to not completely release. NASA and SwRI are examining a variety of alternatives, consisting of the possibility of leaving the variety in its present state. Any effort to securely redeploy the variety would happen no earlier thanNov 16.
All other systems are working typically.
