NASA spacecraft tracking asteroids had its solar wing stuck
The issue arose shortly after the spacecraft's 12-year voyage began on October 16.
NASA is deciding whether or not to attempt to repair a jammed solar panel on the Lucy spacecraft, which is en route to examine an unprecedented number of asteroids.
The issue arose shortly after the spacecraft’s 12-year voyage began on October 16.
NASA announced on Wednesday that one of Lucy’s two massives, around solar panels is only 75 to 95 percent stretched after monitoring the electric current this week. It’s held in place with a lanyard.
Any attempt to reopen the wing, which is 24 feet in diameter, would be postponed until mid-November.
Officials said there’s no rush to figure out what to do next because the glitch hasn’t disrupted Lucy’s outgoing travel yet. Everything else on the spaceship, which is already 3.7 million miles (6 million kilometers) away, appears to be in good operating order.
Hal Levison of Southwest Research Institute, the mission’s chief scientist, said the team is encouraged that the combined power from both solar panels “is keeping the spacecraft healthy and working.”
“It’s too early to judge the mission’s long-term ramifications,” Levison wrote in an email on Thursday. “Our staff is working extremely deliberately and attentively to find a feasible solution,” says the spokesperson.
The almost $1 billion project aims to investigate seven so-called Trojan asteroids that orbit the sun in the same orbit as Jupiter, as well as another space rock closer to Earth. Each target should be within 600 miles (965 kilometers) of Lucy.
