The Juno mission to Jupiter has been extended until September 2025 – or how long the spacecraft around Jupiter can continue to operate.
While Juno has so far focused only on the giant planet, the mission expansion will include observations of Jupiter’s rings and large moons, with targeted observations and nearby planes planned for the moons Ganymede, Europe and Io.
It will be the first nearby flies of these moons since the Galileo mission in 1995-2003.
‘One of the exciting things about the mission [extension]”” We are going to visit the satellites and the rings, “said Scott Bolton, Juno’s chief investigator, who said at a meeting of NASA’s Outer Planets Advisory Group in September 2020. the main mission, and so it may feed a more diverse community, because the satellite geologists, the ring people, will all get data that I think is very interesting and unique. ‘
Juno has made discoveries about Jupiter’s inner structure, magnetic field and magnetosphere, and its atmospheric dynamics are far more complex than scientists previously thought. The camera on board, the JunoCam, has a beautiful view of the gas giant world. Space image enthusiasts expect JunoCam views of the Galilean moons to be nothing short of spectacular. Juno did take long-distance photos of the moon Ganymede in 2020.
Juno arrived at Jupiter in July 2016, and originally the intended end of the mission was February of 2018, due to how close the spacecraft would be to Jupiter and its radiation-laden environment. It is expected that the spacious “working conditions” would eventually make the spacecraft unusable.
But the mission plan was changed when problems with the spacecraft’s main engine arose shortly after Juno’s arrival at Jupiter. Originally, the spacecraft would have a 14-day orbit around the planet. At the end of 2016, mission managers chose not to perform a final rocket combustion for the orbit due to the uncertainty about the reliability of the engine.
Instead, Juno puts in a 53-day orbit through a revised plan. This means that the whole mission is operated at a slower scientific pace. However, Bolton said slower pace was a ‘saving grace’, and Juno was exposed to less severe radiation, making the mission work longer than originally planned.
“I think the lesson is that we were flexible, and that it’s good in missions,” Bolton said in September. “So try to be flexible when designing a mission, because you do not know which curveball you are going to throw.”
NASA also extended the InSight mission at Mars by another two years until December 2022. InSight’s spacecraft and team deployed and managed its highly sensitive seismometer, measured Marsquakes and collected data on robust tectonic activity on the Red Planet, as well as our knowledge. to improve. of the planet’s atmospheric dynamics, magnetic field and inner structure.
An independent review panel has recommended the two mission extensions to NASA.
“The Senior Review has confirmed that these two planetary science missions are likely to bring new discoveries and raise new questions about our solar system,” said Lori Glaze, director of the planetary science division at NASA headquarters in Washington. “I thank the members of the Senior Review Panel for their comprehensive analysis and also thank the mission teams who will now provide exciting opportunities to refine our understanding of the dynamic science of Jupiter and Mars.”
NASA says that extended missions make use of the large investments in these missions, which enable continued scientific operations at a cost much lower than the development of a new mission. “In some cases, the expansions allow missions to acquire valuable data sets over a long period of time, while in other cases it is possible for missions to visit new targets, with entirely new scientific objectives,” NASA said in a press release.
Caption for main photo: Civil scientist Kevin M. Gill created this image using data from the spacecraft’s JunoCam imager. Credits: NASA / JPL-Caltech / Kevin Gill.