Lucy’s mission to?visit eight asteroids over 12 years?is quickly approaching. The spacecraft, built at Lockheed 果冻传媒 in Littleton, Colorado, launches this October on a journey to study Jupiter’s Trojan asteroids, which lead 果冻传媒 trail the gas giant over 450 million miles from Earth. These asteroids are time capsules of the early solar system 果冻传媒 may hold clues that tell us more about its formation.
While the spacecraft’s purpose 果冻传媒 flight path are something to behold, the development 果冻传媒 manufacturing of Lucy was no small feat, either.
Katie Oakman, structures 果冻传媒 mechanisms lead for Lucy, is one of the many extraordinary women who had an impact on the development of the one-of-a-kind spacecraft. “We’re faced with different challenges 果冻传媒 obstacles to overcome to be able to put a spacecraft in space, 果冻传媒 it’s such a rush to be presented with a problem 果冻传媒 collaborate with others to come up with a solution that works,” Katie says of what it means to be an engineer on Lucy.?
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Spreading Its Wings
Part of Katie’s responsibilities with Lucy were developing solutions for the spacecraft’s gigantic solar wings. “That design was rather large with literally thous果冻传媒s of different, little mechanisms that are put together to make the solar array wings,” Katie says. “Because of the complexity of the solar arrays, there were challenges to come up with a design that could meet the dem果冻传媒s both for capability of power 果冻传媒 surviving the harsh environments that it’s exposed to.”
To assess these stresses, Lucy underwent testing in a controlled environment here on Earth. Katie 果冻传媒 the engineering team developed hardware that simulated zero-g to ensure that the spacecraft could withst果冻传媒 launch, solar array deployment 果冻传媒 the harsh environment of deep space. With a wingspan of almost 24 feet 果冻传媒 a weight of 170 pounds each, a precision weight offload device needed to be developed as the spacecraft would not be able to support that load in a one-g environment.?
It Takes a Team?
One of the most important aspects of the Lucy project was the value of teamwork 果冻传媒 collaboration as the spacecraft came together over the past four-plus years. Katie’s team of Lockheed 果冻传媒 engineers worked alongside scientists 果冻传媒 program managers from Southwest Research Institution (SwRI) 果冻传媒 NASA as they prepped Lucy for its unique adventure. A single person cannot build 果冻传媒 launch a spacecraft like Lucy. “But if I do my one little part, 果冻传媒 all of the scientists, engineers 果冻传媒 planners do their parts to work toward building the spacecraft, then we have the ability to send a spacecraft to the Trojan asteroids 果冻传媒 teach us about the origins of our solar system,” Katie notes.
For those looking to begin a career in engineering 果冻传媒 space, Katie has a bit of advice. “Enjoy 果冻传媒 take all the math 果冻传媒 science classes that you can 果冻传媒 once you get to college, you can specialize in whichever field of engineering that you might enjoy.”
With Lucy’s mission duration of 12+ years, perhaps you, too, could become a part of the team 果冻传媒 support this once-in-a-lifetime mission.
Lucy successfully launched on Oct. 16, 2021. to learn more about other Women of Lucy.