PI Daily, September 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.
idk who needs this…oh, forget that, EVERYONE needs this.
Make your bracket and vote daily — starting TODAY at noon Eastern — on the FATTEST BEAR in Katmai National Park.#FatBearWeek !!
Meet the bears, watch the live cam. Bear therapy.https://t.co/vcjLBEWkto
— Lindy Elkins-Tanton (@ltelkins) September 30, 2020
Today (& tomorrow & Thurs) I am on Standing Review Board for @EuropaClipper mission's Mission System Critical Design Review.
Reviewing navigation, launch, cruise, approach, orbital ops, staff training, data handling, and so much more.
This mission is going to ROCK. pic.twitter.com/MJXk7TV4H4
— Lindy Elkins-Tanton (@ltelkins) September 29, 2020
Let's play, "Guess abt something we can't see that happened 4.5 billion years ago!"
My latest hypotheses abt formation of asteroid (16) Psyche. Prep for @MissionToPsyche.
We think it has…
1. rock high in Mg, v low in Fe
2. metal
3. density 3700-4200 kg m-3OK Go!#PI_Daily pic.twitter.com/esRlKOQ7Ut
— Lindy Elkins-Tanton (@ltelkins) September 28, 2020
Today is university space stuff: Our #IIASU Quarterly Meeting at 11:00am PST. All invited, register at: https://t.co/a79HvO8a4p
Then, welcoming all this year's ~250 @MissionToPsyche students!
It's a good Friday, useful and hopeful. pic.twitter.com/3mYL7YhoEE
— Lindy Elkins-Tanton (@ltelkins) September 25, 2020
New artists working with @MissionToPsyche! WELCOME to this year's Psyche Inspired student art interns. #PI_Daily https://t.co/5tc3lWURZ3
— Lindy Elkins-Tanton (@ltelkins) September 23, 2020
Tuesdays…
Working on @MissionToPsyche schedule all day.8:00 All-team mtg ~130 ppl
12:15 Plan team mtg w proj sci
1:00 Marshall SFC tag-up
2:00 Project Staff
3:00 Technical-Schedule-Cost ("tsk") mtg
4:30 JPL 4X tag-upMay we all be as fierce as hummingbirds! pic.twitter.com/vzjLsKF2Iv
— Lindy Elkins-Tanton (@ltelkins) September 22, 2020
Typical mix of things…gotta love the personnel and org. management, team-building, comms, along with the science and engineering.
– Working on catching up some late schedule on a subsystem
– Prepping for all-team morning meeting tomorrow
– Discussing press releases— Lindy Elkins-Tanton (@ltelkins) September 21, 2020
Thought you might like to see a hypervelocity impact into a piece of iron meteorite. Experiment using Ames Vertical Gun by Simone Marchi. My thumb for scale.
Also presented @MissionToPsyche to the CAPS, the keepers of the planetary decadal survey, today. pic.twitter.com/3U86HTYwSl
— Lindy Elkins-Tanton (@ltelkins) September 16, 2020
It's Psyche super Tuesday! Lots of mtgs & updates, nothing too interesting to report upon.
BUT
Check out @MissionToPsyche student collaborations numbers! Each horizontal line is one individual student. Over 800 students at 37 different universities so far! pic.twitter.com/8WsxU665Rz
— Lindy Elkins-Tanton (@ltelkins) September 15, 2020
1. Working the schedule, working the schedule, working the schedule. (Launch in Aug. 2020 is RIGHT AROUND THE CORNER.)
2. Prep to present @MissionToPsyche to the CAPS committee, the keepers of the Planetary Decadal Survey, Weds. morning!https://t.co/MxnFgSWNSv
— Lindy Elkins-Tanton (@ltelkins) September 14, 2020
One day blurs into the next while working under COVID. When you're working very hard, that also seems permanent and without a break.
This is @MissionToPsyche's quiet week. Almost all mtgs canceled. Some quiet brain time, or even, for me, a couple days of vacation!
— Lindy Elkins-Tanton (@ltelkins) September 8, 2020
Prepping for early career visitors to @MissionToPsyche fall All-Team Mtg! To apply to us, @EuropaClipper, or @NASADragonfly, see #3 in this @AAS_DPS newsletter: https://t.co/rBeUEyx2zN.
Also LOTS of teaching today. Quail tableaux for spice. pic.twitter.com/FxaoQlwBKT
— Lindy Elkins-Tanton (@ltelkins) September 3, 2020
So right, @DrZowie! And I'd add, it's a long-term commitment. You're making a promise (and your employer is making a promise) that you will be working primarily on the flight project for a long, long time. Biggest gift, biggest challenge. #PI_Daily @MissionToPsyche https://t.co/rjwJlUrsBg
— Lindy Elkins-Tanton (@ltelkins) September 2, 2020
Today was @MissionToPsyche's project risk board. Checked status of all top risks. Some have lessened! New ones have emerged. COVID impact is #1. Hardware schedule slips. We're in that part of the mission!
Here's @tweetsoutloud's great take on the risk matrix. https://t.co/vNcFPeJzw5
— Lindy Elkins-Tanton (@ltelkins) September 2, 2020
Today is our @MissionToPsyche Launch Sequence Review! Seriously exciting. And amazing we need to do this two years ahead-well, 1 year 11 months now!
Just 44 minutes from liftoff to separation… pic.twitter.com/ucFrLCDL15
— Lindy Elkins-Tanton (@ltelkins) September 1, 2020