Fix to Malfunctioning Lucy Probe Good Enough to Complete Asteroid Mission, NASA Says - Gizmodo

One of its solar arrays refused to fully open and mission controllers have been working on the problem ever since.

Since Lucy’s launch in October 2021, NASA engineers have been attempting to fully open and latch the spacecraft’s stubborn solar array.

After seven trials, the solar array is now between 353 degrees and 357 degrees open out of a full 360 degrees.

Following months of running simulations, NASA decided that it would attempt to fully deploy Lucy’s arrays through a series of intricate maneuvers and commands sent over to the spacecraft while it was 60 million miles (96 million kilometers) away from Earth.

After seven trials of pulling the lanyard during the months of May and June, Lucy’s solar array is now between 353 degrees and 357 degrees open.