After engine problems on the Juno spacecraft derailed all plans to reduce its orbital altitude, mission leaders adopted a new plan to make the most of the close flyby of Jupiter that Juno made last week. However, that plan also fell apart after an unexpected computer glitch caused all of the spacecraft’s scientific instruments to shut down just 13 hours before the fun part.
Experts from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory’s Juno mission have been working hard to figure out what caused the spacecraft to go into protected mode. “According to preliminary data, the reason was the software performance monitor, the program, an error in which led to a reset of the spacecraft’s onboard computer” – wrote in an official statement representatives of NASA – “Now the computer is restarted, and the Juno spacecraft is in good health”.
Because of everything that has happened, the Juno spacecraft continues to remain in a 53-day orbit that will bring it back to Jupiter on Dec. 11, 2016. If the propulsion problem is resolved by then, the Juno spacecraft will again attempt a 14-day orbit transition. However, if the problem with the engines cannot be solved, the spacecraft will remain in its current orbit, from which most of its planned scientific research can be conducted.
“In terms of scientific value, a 53-day orbit is not very different from a 14-day orbit,” says Scott Bolton, science director for the Juno project, “In the worst-case scenario, we will do almost all of the science, but only much slower than we had planned before.”
Since arriving near Jupiter on July 4 this year, the Juno spacecraft has made only one close pass by Jupiter on August 27, which was used to calibrate its cameras and scientific instruments. All these operations were quite successful and provided scientists with a wealth of valuable scientific information concerning the magnetic fields and auroras of the northern lights in Jupiter’s atmosphere. In addition, some of the data allowed scientists to find out what happens in the atmosphere of the planet below the upper edge of its thick cloud cover.
And now, the mission engineers are making every effort to understand the cause of the malfunction and restore the performance of the propulsion system of the Juno. At the same time, they are working to eliminate software glitches and ensure the correct operation of the spacecraft’s onboard computer.