The team has had to deal with an unexpected issue with the deployment of Lucy, which has been traveling through space on its way to visit the Trojan asteroids since its launch in October last year.
The problem is with one of Lucy's solar panels. Once Lucy reached space, these had to be folded up to fit inside the launch vehicle. The array should have been latched into place after it was unfolded into two distinctive round shapes.
The solar array failed to open correctly after deployment. The array was almost completely deployed, but it was not secured in place as it should have been. The mission team decided to go ahead with the craft entering cruise mode because the combined two arrays were generating enough power.
NASA wants to put the array in place again. Engineers on the ground have been performing tests and looking at data from the spacecraft and have concluded that the array in question is open to 345 degrees and is still producing enough power. The unlocked solar array could be damaged if the main engine is fired.
NASA shared that on Monday, April 18, the team decided to try to fix the array into its proper place. The array was opened by a small motor that was attached to a lanyard.
Engineers will try to pull the lanyard through the array's primary and backup motor, so that the array canlatch into place. The lanyard may be able to be pulled out of its snag by using the additional Torque from the two motors.
It will take two steps to act on this plan. The first step is to pull the lanyard, which will allow the team to check that the spacecraft is in the same condition as the testing on the ground. If everything goes well, the second step will be to use the two motor to pull the array in place.
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