Psyche Solar Electric Propulsion Engineer Julie Li – Behind the Spacecraft

Meet Julie Li, an engineer on NASA’s Psyche mission, which will be the first to explore a metal-rich asteroid, also named Psyche. In this video, Li, of Maxar Technologies, explains how her team developed the solar electric propulsion hardware on the spacecraft. She also talks about her childhood dream of becoming an astronaut and her passion for outdoor adventure. Whether the asteroid Psyche is the partial core of a planetesimal (a building block of the rocky planets in our solar system) or primordial material that never melted, scientists expect the mission to help answer fundamental questions about Earth’s own metal core and the formation of our solar system. This is the fourth episode in a weekly, five-part video series called “Behind the Spacecraft.” Each Psyche team member will tell the story of how they came to the mission. Join us on this channel on Sept. 13 for a live streamed Q&A with Li, and on Sept. 20 with JPL electrical engineer Luis Dominguez. Psyche’s launch period opens Oct. 5, 2023. The spacecraft will begin orbiting the asteroid Psyche in 2029. Learn about this first-of-its-kind mission at: https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/psyche Credit: NASA Produced by: NASA 360 Productions

What is said in the film

Behind The Spacecraft: Psyche — Journey to a Metal World. 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 Li 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 these scientific instruments and a significant amount of science 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 nineties, 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 cage shark diving. I also summited Mount Kilimanjaro. And hopefully some day, maybe I'll get to explore space myself. NASA.

A NASA 360 production.

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