PI Daily, February 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, reviewing instrument thermal, vibe, and shock tests. So far so good!
And opening our new space hardware lab at @asu!#PI_Daily pic.twitter.com/VKlDJU4Cn3
— Lindy Elkins-Tanton (@ltelkins) February 28, 2020
When PIs collide! This week @colkin and I are on the @eapsMIT visiting committee. We miss you @Jim_Bell and Hal! #PI_Daily pic.twitter.com/ZxicHpzOwE
— Lindy Elkins-Tanton (@ltelkins) February 25, 2020
We have 475 students on 83 @NASAPsyche capstone teams at 9 universities. Some are working on lander concepts! We've designed a surface testbed (all together now: we don't know what the surface is like!) to be replicated at each univ. Here's lab group assembling the 1st! #PI_Daily pic.twitter.com/iNBy3qDz8y
— Lindy Elkins-Tanton (@ltelkins) February 24, 2020
Sunset from the plane home from Burbank yesterday. Good two days @NASAJPL. Today, @ASU, teaching, visitors. #PI_Daily pic.twitter.com/Jv8J5PumiS
— Lindy Elkins-Tanton (@ltelkins) February 20, 2020
Current data says Psyche's prob 30-60% metal. To spread ideas & that we don't know what Psyche is, it's my happy #PI_Daily duty to work with artists and communicators. Here's a tiny new glimpse of @peter_rubin's work imagining a Psyche made of big chunks of rock and metal! 🌚🛰️ pic.twitter.com/Km54mJZaX1
— Lindy Elkins-Tanton (@ltelkins) February 18, 2020
Boarded for Burbank — two days this week at @NASAJPL, as w many weeks.
Today also long convo with another PI brainstorming over some decisions.
And check out this beauty! PI perk: Officially allowed to be obsessed w meteorites. #PI_Daily pic.twitter.com/r6ttAWE9KL— Lindy Elkins-Tanton (@ltelkins) February 18, 2020
Today's @NASAPsyche #PI_Daily… working w a part of the team that needs some help. People are most miraculous and the most devastating part of every project. Thank goodness not a devastation this time but needs thinking & acting. Always learning abt ppl, organizations, mgt.
— Lindy Elkins-Tanton (@ltelkins) February 13, 2020
#PI_Daily Today is @NASAPsyche Thermal Subsystem CDR. It's complex to keep all the parts of the s/c at their preferred temp – radiators remove heat, heaters add it, lots of models of how heat will conducted. Google space-rated heat pipe! Here's a sense of the effort that goes in: pic.twitter.com/IoE3BXFtVo
— Lindy Elkins-Tanton (@ltelkins) February 11, 2020
Today’s #PI_Daily: launch clocks! Time streaks along and we labor to keep up! @NASAPsyche @evgenya SPARCS @RPappalardo @EuropaClipper@hardgrove @lunahmap pic.twitter.com/RrsuNk21Sg
— Lindy Elkins-Tanton (@ltelkins) February 11, 2020
What do I naturally do on a vacation day with my big brother @jameselkins? Tucson mineral show! And here’s a giant slab of Muonionalusta, a IVA iron meteorite, that might be from Psyche! #PI_Daily pic.twitter.com/9uxzOsCImx
— Lindy Elkins-Tanton (@ltelkins) February 7, 2020
Key acronyms for the Gamma Ray and Neutron Spectrometer CDR:
High purity germanium = HPGe
Mini Low Voltage Converter = MLVC
Sensor Control Unit Module = SCUMAmazing world. #PI_Daily
(HPGe from https://t.co/cquUsypuD1) pic.twitter.com/MuqFS4qhK4— Lindy Elkins-Tanton (@ltelkins) February 5, 2020
Purpose of Critical Design Reviews: Determine readiness to proceed w implementation inc fab, assembly, integration, & test.
Over two days we'll examine all eng. aspects, inc. interface control docs, status of design drawings, test results, much more.#PI_Daily#festiveCDRseason
— Lindy Elkins-Tanton (@ltelkins) February 4, 2020
We're off & running @JHUAPL w @NASAPsyche Gamma Ray & Neutron Spectrometer Critical Design Review!
This is 1st instrument in #festiveCDRseason – 17 subsys & instr CDRs, then project-level CDR in May.#PI_Daily pic.twitter.com/PsJHf8CWM1
— Lindy Elkins-Tanton (@ltelkins) February 4, 2020
This morn met w @NASAPsyche Program Exec & w @loriglaze, Planetary Science Div Dir. Critical lessons I am always trying to follow: Speak clearly, completely, regularly w NASA HQ. Partner. Share challenges. Ask 4 advice. OK for now!
Also, bought some sweet @NASA swag!#PI_Daily pic.twitter.com/sR7irj3jns— Lindy Elkins-Tanton (@ltelkins) February 3, 2020
So simple and it really speaks to me. @NASAPsyche’s student art program is a constant source of joy. #PI_Daily https://t.co/DKXpiQBBiM
— Lindy Elkins-Tanton (@ltelkins) February 3, 2020
Different kind of sunset tonight — that’s the pond at @JHUAPL! Tonight, Superbowl, tomorrow, @NASA HQ. #PI_Daily pic.twitter.com/VQ449VgpUU
— Lindy Elkins-Tanton (@ltelkins) February 2, 2020
Boarded at 7:15 this Sunday morning — off to @JHUAPL for our @NASAPsyche Gamma Ray and Neutron Spectrometer Critical Design Review! Also a Monday stop in to @NASA HQ to chat with the great @loriglaze. Should be a good week! #PI_Daily pic.twitter.com/8kVbPgOFRi
— Lindy Elkins-Tanton (@ltelkins) February 2, 2020