Juno spacecraft regains memory after breathtaking Jupiter flyby, says NASA
NASA’s Juno probe is continuing to recover its memory on Jupiter after a data outage interrupted communications between the spacecraft and its operators on Earth following a flyby of the giant planet in December.
The Juno spacecraft‘s last flyby of Jupiterthe planet’s 47th close pass, was completed on December 14. But like the operators at NASA’s Jet propulsion laboratory received scientific data from the flyby, they found that they no longer had direct access to the spacecraft’s memory.
The team successfully rebooted Juno’s computer, and on December 17, they placed the spacecraft in “safe mode” with only essential systems running as a precaution. From a December 22 NASA update (opens in new tab), the steps the team had taken to restore Juno’s science data had turned out positively. Juno’s operators are now successfully downlinking the flyby data.
“The scientific data from the solar-powered spacecraft’s most recent flyby of Jupiter and its moon Io appears to be intact,” NASA wrote in the update.
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The hiatus is currently believed to have been caused when Juno flew through intense radiation from part of Jupiter’s magnetosphere. There is no evidence that the radiation spike has corrupted data from its close approach to Jupiter or its flyby volcanic Jupiter moon Io.
The remaining data from Juno’s last flyby is expected to be returned to Earth in the coming days, after which operators can assess whether it has been affected by the outage.
Juno left Earth in August 2011, traveled 2.7 million miles and entered orbit around the gas giant planet 5 years later on July 4, 2016. Juno became the first spacecraft to look through Jupiter’s dense clouds and set out to answer questions about Jupiter’s composition and origin. .
Related: NASA’s Juno spacecraft takes the most detailed view of the icy moon Europa
Juno takes 53 Earth days to orbit Jupiter, with Juno’s primary mission calling for an orbit of 35, during which it collected 3 terabits of science data and some incredible images of Jupiter and its moons. Since Jupiter is believed to be the oldest world in the solar system, it may reveal more information about the formation of the solar system itself.
This data changed many of the ideas planetary scientists had about Jupiter’s atmosphere and interior by revealing an atmospheric weather layer that extended well beyond the water clouds, as well as a deep interior with a diluted core of heavy elements.
The spacecraft’s primary mission ended in July and the spacecraft is expected to continue its extensive science operations until at least 2025 according to the Planetary Society (opens in new tab).
The spacecraft was expected to exit safe mode this week and fly past Jupiter on January 22, 2023.
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