NASA's Lucy spacecraft is 48 million km from Earth

The Lucy probe, launched on October 16, 2021 to explore Jupiter's four so-called "Trojan" asteroids, is now more than 48 million kilometers from Earth and continues to operate safely in "cruise out" mode. In addition to a solar array that didn't lock up after deployment, an issue the mission team is working on to fix, all of the spacecraft's systems are normal. The arrays are producing a lot of energy, charging the spacecraft battery as expected under normal operating conditions.



Current plan supports attempted closure in late April period; however, the team is continuing to explore the possibility of leaving the array as it is. Meanwhile, in the lab, they are testing a dual-motor solar panel deployment using both the primary and backup motors. The test aims to determine whether the engagement of both motors at the same time applies sufficient force to complete the implementation and lock the solar array.

In addition to the solar array activity, the team continues to perform routine operations on the spacecraft. The next activity is to calibrate the guidance, navigation and control hardware to ensure the spacecraft's pointing accuracy.