By On October 16, 2021, when the Atlas V Lucy rocket launched United Lucy managed to use Lucy’s spaceship, the engineers in a happy mood, but it would all change. Only for hours on his flight, the space aircraft radiated again which showed anomalies while moving away from this planet.
While no one knew at that time, one of the solar panels – which was designed like a hand fan – had not been fully opened and flight for 12 years that would be powered by solar energy had begun to experience hiccups. With a spacecraft on the way to the Asteroid Trojan, questions on earth began to emerge.
What happened? Is the array open at all? Is there any way to fix it? Can Lucy be able to maneuver safely needed to complete his science mission without a completely mobilized arrangement?
What is Lucy Mission?
Named after the ancient fossils of the pre-human ancestors, Lucy was the first solar-powered spacecraft that adventured towards a group of rocky bodies known as Jupiter Trojan asteroids. This is the first mission to run the solar energy while stepping billions of kilometers from the influence of the sun. Space aircraft during the 12 -year flight will first meet Donaldjohanson Asteroids on the main belt, between Mars and Jupiter.
Before achieving its destination, space aircraft had to do three Flybys Earth for gravitational assistance, making it the first space aircraft that returned around our planet from the outside solar system. Between 2027 and 2033, he will find seven trojan asteroids – five in the hordes that lead to Jupiter, and two in the giant giant.
The problem is on the boat
When the problem continues, NASA unites the Anomali Response Team, consisting of members of the Science Mission Lead Southwest Research Institute (SWRI) in Austin, Texas, Mission Operations Leading the Center for Outer Space Flight Nasa in Greenbelt, Maryland, Spacecraft Builder Lockheed Martin, and Northrop At Northrop Grumman in San Diego, who has designed the Surya Array system.
The team launched a in -depth diving to identify the root causes of the problem. The team then evaluated the solar panel configuration by firing the driving force and collecting data about how the strengths made the solar array tremble. This helps to uncover this issue, namely that “a lanyard designed to attract Surya Lucy’s array which is open to the possibility of watched out on a roll like a bark.”
“We have a very talented team, but it is important to give them time to find out what is happening and how to move forward. Fortunately, spacecraft is a place that should be, function nominal, and most importantly safe. We have time, “said Hal Levison, Lucy’s main investigator.
Repairing Lucy in Space
The team then identified two ways to repair traffic solar panels. One of them is to attract harder to the lanyard by running a motorbike to spread the array reserves at the same time as the main motorbike and the other is to use panels as from the beginning fully used and produced more than 90 percent than expected of power.
Over the next few months, the team mapped courses for spacecraft to see what could happen if these two options were used. They finally decided to leave with the first. After months of simulation and testing, the team ordered space aircraft to simultaneously run the Surya Primer and reserve array motorbikes on seven opportunities between May and June.
Betting paid off and solar panels further, between 353 degrees and 357 degrees open from 360 degrees in total for the completely deployed array, said Nasa.
This spacecraft is now ready for the assistance of the first earth’s gravity which will take place in October this year before going to its first destination in 2025.