Live Q&A with Psyche Solar Propulsion Engineer Julie Li
space just inspires everyone of different backgrounds different nationalities so I think it gives in a sense kind of Hope For Humanity I'm Julie Lee and my job is to propel the psyche spacecraft to a metal Rich asteroid so this is the psyche spacecraft we're basically looking at a spaceship that's going into space it's going to explore a metal world that is the psyche asteroid and it could be the remnants of the beginning of a planet my role is to basically oversee the development of the electric propulsion Hardware the dsms that you see on the spacecraft with the red covers are essentially Deployable stationary plasma thrusters they're very small but it's able to carry all of the scientific instruments in a significant amount of signs payload to the asteroid and as you can see this little fixture right here that is deployed out is our Deployable stationary plasma thrusters I knew I wanted to pursue aerospace engineering because I wanted to be an astronaut growing up in the 9 90s I think that was the peak of all the space shuttle missions so I remember just watching all the space shuttle launches with my parents my first job out of college was a design engineer for the space shuttle mission everyone is fascinated by the unknown it's extremely difficult Science and Technology but it's possible by Nature I just like to challenge myself I'm very interested in daring exploration I've been skydiving I've been paged shark diving I also summited Mount Kilimanjaro and hopefully someday maybe I'll get to explore space myself hi everyone I'm Emily Richardson from NASA's jet propulsion laboratory in Southern California in just a moment I'll be joined by Julie Lee to answer your questions about psyche a first of its kind mission that after it launches next month will travel Beyond Mars to explore an asteroid made not just of rock and ice but of significant amounts of metal to get there it will use a super efficient solar electric propulsion system today's guest is very familiar with the system having overseen its development at maxar Technologies and now she's joining us live to answer your questions thanks for joining us today Julie hi Emily I'm extremely excited to join you and our viewers to have a discussion today that is truly out of this world I love that and to everyone watching online remember Julie's here to answer your questions so drop them in the chat of whatever stream you're watching or send it in using the hashtag asknasa but first Julie we're less than a month until the launch tell us a little bit about the psyche Mission and the spacecraft that you've helped build well from existing uh radar data scientists believe that psyche is composed of mostly metal the core of most planets are also made of metal so this suggests that psyche is possibly the remnants of the beginnings of a planetary formation that was destroyed by collisions and to confirm this study scientists will perform a mission with some key instruments that will map out the topography and the elemental composition of psyche to carry these instruments to psyche we are using maxar's Heritage electric propulsion system that will carry these instruments through the six plus years until we reach psyche for that study yeah and watching that intro video I have to say this propulsion system sounds almost sci-fi worthy can you tell us how psyche's massive solar panels Xenon propellant and plasma thrusters will work together to transport the spacecraft 2.2 billion miles through space well psyche will utilize maxar's Heritage 1300 spacecraft spacecraft platform which is the most reliable spacecraft design in the industry and maxar is also leading the industry in Solo electric propulsion uh we have flown many spacecrafts with this specific electric propulsion space subsystem before for decades and we're extremely excited to elevate it to its application of the Steep space mission that will fly beyond the moon uh to a to an asteroid for the very first time for for this mission uh now the stars of the electric propulsion system are our dual access Deployable stationary plasma thrusters and these are a class of hall effect thrusters uh these thrusters will actually deploy out in Space the easiest way to explain it is uh imagine Iron Man uh these and when he stretches out his arms and pushes up that's essentially what these uh Deployable stationary plasma thrusters will do um they after the solar rays are deployed we will utilize that electricity uh to create an electromagnetic field which will ionize the propellant in this case which was Xenon and this essentially will accelerate the ions creating the thrust um so we use Xenon because it is the heaviest Atomic molecule which means that it generates the most thrust and we currently hold a world record for loading the most uh Xenon on a spacecraft in the world and this propellant is managed by our feed system which is composed of numerous regulators and valves which control the flow Xenon to these thrusters providing just the right amount of thrust for this mission wow so it's not Science Fiction it's very much science reality and Engineering reality done by very incredibly smart people like you um one more question for me from me before we get to our viewers it looks like you're joining us today from a really cool location can you tell us about where you're joining us from uh yes I am joining today from maxar Technologies in Palo Alto and uh behind me you can see one of our massive High Bays um and in direct view is our Solar Ray rig which deploys and tests all of our solar rays and the psyche spacecraft uh did was built and tested through this highway just about two years ago and we are one of the leading uh companies uh in in the country and in the world actually uh for spacecrafts for not only government but also commercial as well as NASA missions and we are also currently supporting three NASA missions with the same uh spacecraft platform that is on psyche uh these are the missions of tempo osam and the power propulsion element for Artemis for the Artemis Gateway program uh and so for uh the power and propulsion element we will actually be elevating uh psyche's electric propulsion subsystem but tripling the power for that mission to the Moon wow that's so incredible and you know Partnerships are so important to the work that we do uh questions are really rolling in here so let's get to some of them as a reminder if you have a question for Julie you can send it in using the hashtag asknasa or by dropping it in the chat wherever you're watching the stream today but let's just dive in here first up future astronauts on YouTube asks what inspired you to join NASA uh well I've always had the dream ever since I was little to be an astronaut so the easiest pathway in my mind was to become an aerospace engineer work in the industry work on as many spacecrafts and launch vehicles and collaborations with all um with all fields of the space industry as possible to hopefully get my foot in the door um and so maxar was a great place for that it's an extremely a great place to learn very quickly we have the highest Cadence of spacecraft design and production and we constantly have about a dozen spacecrafts admissions going through our facility in a single year so that was my inspiration mm-hmm next up Mark on YouTube asks how was psyche discovered in the first place uh so Dr Lindy our principal uh investigator might be able to answer this better but from what I know uh there's existing data from radar observations and thermal inertia that suggests that psyche is composed of mostly metal which has been unseen in other asteroids which are mostly Rock and ice so that is how this discovery came to be very cool and yes there's tons of there's tons of information about that on the psyche website psyche nasa.gov psyche um there's I'm sure really great information to dive into that some more um the next question I think is a great fit for for you um totaling arc on YouTube asks was the propulsion system originally calculated to be faster making the trip shorter uh so we are utilizing this propulsion subsystem not only because not because particularly because it's faster but because it is more efficient so meaning uh it will allow us to go uh the 2.2 billion miles with a minimal amount of propulsion Mass um so uh Electro propulsion is typically more efficient than chemical propulsion so that means it has better specific impulse and that it can provide the more accurate low thrust levels that are possible but operate through a much longer mission life yeah I was reading I was reading some of the materials online and I saw something that said the the mission will get an equivalent of nearly 10 million miles to the gallon which is pretty efficient yes definitely um all right Drew on Facebook asks what has been your favorite part of the mission and what do you hope that we can gain from the launch and I guess from arriving at the asteroid and studying it um well my favorite part of the mission has been collaborating with a great institution like JPL and uh learning from uh the other teams and other disciplines um for me uh being in the and being in this industry the best part is just uh never and the opportunity to never stop learning um not from only my internal maxar team but from other great institutions like JPL um and the most exciting part about the study I would say is that we'll have a better understanding of the formation of planets and our galaxies and a better standing of our Earth and hopefully more appreciation for the planet that we live on and thanks to everyone for sending in these really great questions keep sending them in for us we have some more time with Julie here and we want to get through as many as possible we're so excited looking forward to this October 5th launch of psyche um now Julie Maurice on YouTube asks is there any chance of collecting Xenon in space for refueling uh unfortunately that might be a little difficult I'm not sure if that technology quite exists yet although uh I'm sure there are um many many smart uh scientists out there who are working on that um the difficulty with collecting Xenon in space is that we're in a vacuum so Xena will pretty much disperse into that vacuum of the deep hole that a space unlike Earth where there's gravity and there's atmosphere and we are better able to capture it so I don't believe that technology exists yet but anything is possible hmm so earlier we were talking about the trajectory so it's not just a straight path to psyche correct it's going to be doing some some gravity assists on the way can you talk a little bit more about that right so um the spacecraft will first after launch it will um be in an orbit on the way to Mars so that we can use Mars's gravity assist and uh the Mars Mars graviasis will actually uh introduce somewhat of a slingshot uh slingshot like trajectory uh for psyche so we'll save some propellant in that sense um after the Mars gravity assist will continue on to uh a couple more orbits until we reach the spacecraft until we reach the asteroid itself once we reach the asteroid the studies will be performed on three or four different orbits and ultimately the final orbit is about 75 kilometers above the surface of the asteroid and that's an important Point too right we're not landing on psyche we're orbiting it and using the science instruments to to study and learn yep correct nice okay so Dylan on YouTube asks uh you touched on this earlier but can you talk a little bit more about what type of electric propulsion is psyche uh it asks are arcjet Hall ionic so they yes so psyche is a hall effect Thruster so uh again it uh it uses an electromagnetic field uh to ionize the Xenon uh and in which the ions from Xenon will be accelerated and that produces the thrust uh that we use for this mission right and I I believe you've also talked about how um there's something about a double A battery right the approximate thrust that the weight of a battery would put on your your hand yep uh so the thrust of these thrusters are only on the order magnitude of a couple hundred million Newtons um even though this is an extremely small amount of thrust we are in space which means that it is vacuum there's no atmosphere there are no uh opposing forces uh so a tiny bit of force will allow us to move through space and we need that low thrust to be able to control our very precise trajectory yeah I love I love just thinking about the system working together these huge solar arrays that are 37 feet long and 24 feet wide enormous silver arrays that are powering the super efficient propulsion system so really is so sci-fi um all right we have another great question from Maurice on YouTube who asks will we eventually run out of xenon when more and more spacecraft use electric propulsion some have already switched to other noble gases right so Zenon is farm from the atmosphere um I don't um believe we I mean I think there would be an extensive demand for Xenon usage for us to run out of xenon in the atmosphere but uh there are other noble gases that can currently be used for electric propulsion specifically Krypton and argon but these gases are less heavy in mass than Xenon so they're slightly less efficient and don't give you the same amount of thrust but in the industry these gases are a little more easy to procure than Xenon so uh that that is why it might be more appealing for some other subsystems we have a viewer on YouTube who asks what type of materials are there on psyche I'm guessing they're they're asking about the metals that we we think that we'll find uh so scientists currently believe that it's mostly composed of nickel iron core um and various other metals which we will find out once we get to the asteroid and another person who maybe joined um since we answered this question a little bit later earlier um but Janet on Facebook asks will psyche land on the asteroid or just orbit it uh no we will just orbit it we're not landing on the asteroid just because we it's a lot of um a lot of the characteristics of the asteroid are unknown so it's it's probably a risk to land on the asteroid um I know a lot of people are picturing Armageddon but uh this is not quite the case um yeah and you know there there are other missions right that have landed on asteroids and are bringing back samples just a very very soon we have the osiris-rex mission that's going to be bringing back samples from the asteroid menu so all kinds of cool asteroid stuff happening with NASA this time definitely yep um all right let's see we have so many good questions coming in and uh we have a little bit more time so if you are watching online and you have some more questions please go ahead and continue dropping those in the chat our teams are monitoring those chats and getting them over to us um and we're getting some really really great questions here so Drew on X asks what kind of science will the instruments on psyche perform What specifically do we hope to learn so uh the main science goal of this mission is to characterize psyche so uh we have uh numerous instruments uh one will characterize the Topography of psyche uh the other will characterize the elemental composition and another will actually measure the magnetic the magnetic field that may exist around psyche right and the for those who might have missed the very beginning you are saying that scientists are are thinking that this could be the metal-rich interior of a planetesimal right something that is a metal core of all of the rocky planets that are in our inner solar system but maybe there were a series of collisions that knocked off that Rocky outer shell correct correct so this mission is to confirm if it is in fact a metal core and um what could have possibly happened uh to this young planet that is psyche right because we're never going to be able to drill down to the the core of our planet unfortunately exactly uh we have another question coming in on YouTube from totaling Arc who asks will the craft protect itself against other debris uh so yes all spacecrafts um are have um have a defense uh system in the form of uh panels that so if you look at the psyche spacecraft it's um it's almost like a box-like feature and the panels that encase all of the interior of the spacecraft uh ours uh structurally um built so that it can withstand uh some debris and we do perform um what we call just kind of debris meteor um space environmental debris analysis to make sure that all of the structures on the spacecraft are robust enough to withstand small impacts yeah very important after you put all that hard work into it to keep the spacecraft safe so um yes launch is right around the corner October 5th is our the opening of the launch period And so events and entertainment on YouTube asks after launch how long until we start getting data well uh it will take about six years until we get to psyche so uh six years until uh we receive data uh concerning the asteroid itself uh but we should be receiving data of uh psyches uh the psyche spacecraft's uh trajectory and its position and uh possibly some images of uh the the pathway that it's taking in space yeah it's important for people to remind her this is to remember that this is a 2.2 billion mile Journey right so it's going to take a little while to get there a very long journey yeah Beyond Mars uh but before Jupiter right yes uh Kunal on YouTube asks what is the data transfer technology used in psyche to transfer the data to Earth uh well psyche the psyche spacecraft is using a new technology uh with an instrument called the dsoc um and uh this is uh an evolutionary industry-breaking new technology that uh should bring back data at a must a much faster Pace um I believe some of the other team members on the payload team would be better suited to answer this question but uh from what I know it's a it's a brand new technology that is much more efficient and data mining yes dosock's a great great thing to talk about um and I I believe that dsoc isn't actually going to be transmitting psyche data just from what I remember but it is a groundbreaking technology that will be tested in deep space to really use to get to get our data back faster so really great and like I said with one of the questions earlier um obviously Julie you're so knowledgeable about propulsion there's not everything that you can remember about every piece of this Mission so if people want to know more um check out nasa.gov psyche for all of
the information there's really great just tons of information there so let's go on to a couple more questions um bill on X asks what was the most challenging part of psyche's development um well uh the most challenging part is uh having to uh design and build psyches propulsion system from my perspective uh uh to withstand uh you know the thermal constraints of the deep space environment um it's a lot different than the thermal constraints of Earth um you know with their sun exposure there's um there's cold cases and vacuum uh so it it's a much much more difficult requirement uh to build to um as well as making sure that our Hardware is able to withstand um any possible uh any possible um instances that can occur during that long uh six-year mission to the asteroid that's an extremely long journey and there's a lot of unknowns in the 2.2 billion miles out there so yeah and that actually relates really well to Roger's question from YouTube why psyche aren't there closer asteroids that could be visited right so most of the asteroids that are currently in space right now are made of rock and Ice uh the psyche asteroid is unique in that we believe it is made of a nickel iron so uh mostly metallic and uh again this is um the this suggests that psyche was the beginning of a planetary formation asking Julie where did you get your cool psyche shirt oh well this is uh this is our maxar psyche shirt um uh and um yup it's it's it's pretty awesome is it the spacecraft on it I can't really see super close so it's a spacecraft with the asteroid I love it yeah people always notice those things which is so fun and it's kind of interesting to note that the the illustration that we have of the asteroid like the one that's on your T-shirt it's just an idea right it's not an actual we don't know that that's exactly what the space what the asteroid looks like yeah it's it's what the scientists could compose and gather from what is currently existing out there in terms of data and again that's mostly a radar from radar observations and thermal inertia so cool um from one Julie to another we have Julia on Facebook who's asking how close will the spacecraft come to the psyche asteroid uh so at the closest orbit uh we will be about 75 kilometers above the surface I believe yeah so pretty close yep very close yeah um and for for context I I heard a reference that the asteroid is roughly the size of Massachusetts right yeah I think that's correct a good visual context uh okay so another really interesting kind of theoretical question here events and entertainment on YouTube asks will there be opportunities to image other astronauts or not other astronauts other asteroids on the way um possibly I'm not certain uh if there are plans to take other images uh but that could be a question for uh Dr Lindy who's our principal investigator great uh Brill Bond on YouTube wants to know if we can get a short movie on the psyche Mission and I'll tell you Bill Brill that we have lots of great video content but Julie what would you what do you think about a psyche documentary should we look into that oh definitely I think that would be fantastic um we have a couple of questions that are a little bit similar to ones you've answered before but I'll ask just in case there's a different take that you want to want to share here Daryl on Facebook asks why is it important to study psyche uh well to study psyche would be to study uh the beginning of planetary formations we are unable to study obviously our own planetary formation of Earth and we are unable to see the core of Earth so psyche would be the psychiatrist would be the next best option it's the only metal asteroid that uh that we've detected so far that is within our capabilities to reach so it will give us a better understanding of the planetary formations and how Earth came to be as well we have we answered one question earlier about the challenges of psyches development but one thing I know that you talked about in your video was the the benefit of working with people from different backgrounds can you talk a little bit about the team that's been working on psyche oh yes um well I worked specifically uh extensively with my own internal propulsion team and uh jpl's propulsion team uh let me just say the most brilliant Engineers I've ever worked with both from maxar and propulsion um I'm only a tiny faction of the hundreds of people that uh that made psyche possible and particularly in propulsion I I believe I'm one of you know dozens of propulsion Engineers that work together to make this possible um you know from my own team uh I I contributed only a fraction um you know there were other key Engineers such as Ian Johnson Taylor curl and Ashton Murphy who did a tremendous job and uh the JPL Engineers were amazing and fantastic as well um who you know many of which that I've you know read their papers on uh you know in school and one of which was my UCLA Professor so that was great it was in a sense like everything came full circle on this on this Mission um and you know just learning from different disciplines even uh not even in my own propulsion subsystem but uh from the electrical systems team from the mechanical team um you know I I really appreciated um and admire the teamwork and the collaboration that everyone had and uh and attacking such a difficult uh and ambitious mission I love that answer thank you uh one more I think we're getting close to time here uh Rachel on X asks why did you choose to do this mission was it personal to you at all um well I've always loved um any mission that involves NASA science studies um because I think the um science studies uh tests our limits and it really pushes pushes us beyond our boundaries and uh it helps us understand um a world that's beyond our own and makes us appreciate um you know just the world that we live in um and uh I I mean I definitely was very excited to participate in this Mission because it is more challenging uh any any mission that goes into deep space has a lot more challenges um than missions that are uh that don't go as far into deep space I should say yeah um and that actually I had one last question for you and it connects really well to that because you talked about climbing mountains and skydiving dreaming of being an astronaut and now you're building spacecraft like psyche so what advice do you have for others who are fascinated by exploring and experiencing the unknown um yep so I would definitely say just be Fearless uh test your limits uh and explore to enrich your own understanding of widen your perspective of the world um or the Galaxy and just never stop learning um you should never be comfortable in your life because I feel like if you are comfortable that means you've stopped learning so you should always be challenging yourself um and just have grit perseverance and resilience with anything that you do give it your all and uh dare Mighty things incredible answer uh well unfortunately that's all the time we have for questions today Julie thank you so much again for joining us today thank you Emily and thank you for everyone who's called in who are washed on all the social media platforms yes thanks to all of you for watching from home to stay updated on the psyche Mission and it's October 5th launch follow NASA JPL and NASA solar system on Facebook X and Instagram and to learn more about this unique mission to a metal Rich asteroid visit nasa.gov psyche thanks again for joining us as we continue to DARE Mighty things
2023-09-17 08:11
