NASA's Juno probe switched to safe mode
During its 71st close flyby of Jupiter, the Juno probe went into safe mode twice. According to NASA, this could be due to the radiation.
Artist's impression of the Juno space probe in front of Jupiter
(Image: NASA/JPL-Caltech)
During a close flyby of the planet Jupiter, the Juno space probe switched to safe mode. The US space agency National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is puzzling over whether Jupiter is to blame.
Juno began its approach to Jupiter on April 4. At 11:17 a.m. our time, about an hour before the flyby, the perijove, the probe switched to safe mode, NASA announced. This happened another 45 minutes after the perijove.
The probe goes into safe mode when it detects an anomaly. All unimportant functions are then switched off. Only the important ones are maintained, such as power supply and communication. To do this, Juno points its antenna towards Earth. The computer is then restarted.
All systems are working again
The scientific instruments are also switched off in such a case. They remained inactive during the entire flyby. All systems are now functioning normally again.
According to NASA, these procedures ran as planned in both cases. The spacecraft then carried out a diagnosis of its flight software. The Juno team has re-established communications and will next transmit the technical and scientific data collected before and after the two safe modes to Earth for analysis.
Jupiter is the planet with the strongest radiation belts in our solar system. A radiation belt is a ring of energetic, charged particles that are captured by a magnetic field. Jupiter's magnetic field is around 20 times stronger than that of the Earth. Its radiation is the hardest ionizing radiation in the solar system.
Did Juno shut down because of the radiation?
Initial indications suggested that Juno switched to safe mode when the probe passed through the radiation belts closest to the planet, NASA said. These are the ones with the strongest radiation.
It was not the first time that Juno had gone into safe mode during a flyby of Jupiter. It had happened three times before, the first time on its second orbit of the planet in 2016.
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Juno began its journey to Jupiter on August 5, 2011. After a swing-by of Earth in the fall of 2013, it reached Jupiter in the summer of 2016 and has been exploring the planet and its moons ever since. This also includes close flybys of the planet and its moons. The 71st flyby took place at the beginning of April. The next one is planned for May 7 and will include a flyby of the moon Io.
(wpl)
