PI Daily, July 2020
By Lindy Elkins-Tanton Starting January 1, 2020…
a new series of daily mission activity Tweets from Psyche Principal Investigator (PI) Lindy Elkins-Tanton.
#PI_Daily
The goal? To share an inside look at the chores, challenges, tasks, assignments, duties, and more taken on by a NASA mission PI!
Follow along on @MissionToPsyche or below.
Today included a close look at cost and mass growth in @MissionToPsyche subsystems and instruments.
Continue to be amazed by challenge of accurate planning when every step hasn't been done many times before. C'mon human brains, evolve faster!
Ad astra, ad Psyche! pic.twitter.com/1Ja4zu5lrz
— Lindy Elkins-Tanton (@ltelkins) July 31, 2020
Woo hoo!! Thanks for joining #PI_Daily!
— Lindy Elkins-Tanton (@ltelkins) July 29, 2020
#PI_Daily After a vacation-from-mtgs, @MissionToPsyche!
Today: now-regular all-team mtg, a response to COVID, with ~120 ppl this morning.
– Hardware being built! Amazing s/c bus emerging at @Maxar.
– COVID is slowing us down, but we're making it work.
Stay well and safe, all! pic.twitter.com/wSBLNxUjR9— Lindy Elkins-Tanton (@ltelkins) July 29, 2020
Sched for @MissionToPsyche waits for no person, no vacation, so I'll be help detail COVID impacts and plan to reach launch (still looking strong).
In other news, here is the baby raccoon eating and the mother (whisker/nose/ear close-up) knocking over the camera. pic.twitter.com/pDMuGnGtZB
— Lindy Elkins-Tanton (@ltelkins) July 21, 2020
Having "vacation" so fewer #PI_Daily tweets, and more about the nature around us in MA right now.
Today's mini-thrill: mushroom spore-prints! pic.twitter.com/25CfiT7fTg
— Lindy Elkins-Tanton (@ltelkins) July 20, 2020
Beautiful synergy btwn art & science today. Sent gorgeous @MissionToPsyche @JHUAPL Gamma Ray & Neutron Spectrometer video to team and subs working on it. Hear video motivated everyone to a higher pitch. We need these bits of joy & connection. https://t.co/eeaOIK4gcC
— Lindy Elkins-Tanton (@ltelkins) July 13, 2020
This week at @NASA has footage of @NASAPersevere rover in final testing and being loaded onto Atlas 5, what @MarsCuriosity is doing on Mars right now, and…CDR pass and progress of @MissionToPsyche's flight hardware! @NASAJPL @ASU @Maxar https://t.co/XbQI9xONSd
— Lindy Elkins-Tanton (@ltelkins) July 11, 2020
Moving fast on @MissionToPsyche. Hard decisions being made.
When good is good enough: Spend $ & schedule time that we cannot afford on an instrument engineering change, to mitigate a risk 7 yrs. out. Getting to launch vs. improving science in the end.
Space is hard!
— Lindy Elkins-Tanton (@ltelkins) July 8, 2020
#PI_Daily Yes, building spacecraft continues!
Today I reviewed Test-as-You-Fly exceptions. Best practice: test hardware exactly as it will be used in flight. Not always possible. For ex: test 24.76-m solar arrays extended in a vacuum! So, strict process for exception approvals. pic.twitter.com/L0OHAfeaO5
— Lindy Elkins-Tanton (@ltelkins) July 6, 2020
Hello space and nature world!#PI_Daily: Serious discussions with @MissionToPsyche subcontractors about schedule concerns.#Nature: Orange slime mold and Wood frog eggs. pic.twitter.com/w4w4XBHOTD
— Lindy Elkins-Tanton (@ltelkins) July 2, 2020