Balky solar array still troubling NASA's Lucy asteroid probe

[Admin]

Lucy's handlers have been working hard to diagnose and fix the problem, but it remains unsolved at present.

Balky solar array still troubling NASA's Lucy asteroid probe : Read more

 

[sam85geo]

It seems that "There's always something" with Space operations. Good luck with a fix/operational compromise.

 

[Pogo]

Sounds sorta like Galileo’s hi-gain antenna problem.

 

[newtons_laws]

From the article "Analysis indicates that the array is between 75% and 95% deployed. It is currently being held in place by a lanyard, specifically designed to help unfurl the arrays during deployment," NASA officials wrote in an update on Wednesday afternoon (Oct. 27).

So if NASA do nothing and leave the partially unfurled array in its present state then taking the worst case 75% value for the partial deployment of one of the two arrays the total power available to the spacecraft will be 87.5% of that originally planned. Presumably that would be sufficient to operate most if not all of the instruments and systems at the furthest distances from the Sun that the mission called for? (I presume there was some excess margin on the power budget incorporated into the design)

Unfurling solar panels can always be a bit tricky, I recall Skylab had problems with a jammed solar panel (the other solar panel had been ripped off during launch , at least Lucy avoided that problem).