Jupiter probe: NASA has repaired broken JunoCam several times by heating it up
NASA's Juno probe's been studying Jupiter for nine years. Conditions are super harsh, and the camera's been taking a beating. But the heat's kept fixing it.
Artistic representation of Juno in front of Jupiter
(Image: NASA/JPL-Caltech)
The faulty camera of the Juno Jupiter probe only lasted significantly longer than planned because it was repeatedly heated to the maximum possible temperature and thus repaired. As NASA explains, the first problems were solved by heating it to a moderate 25 degrees Celsius. However, when the images again showed streaks and noise shortly before the eagerly awaited close flyby of Jupiter's moon Io, the heating was turned up completely. Days later, the image quality improved "dramatically," just in time for the flyby of Io.
(Image:Â NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS)
Extreme conditions on Jupiter
NASA made it public more than two years ago that there were issues with the so-called JunoCam, but did not provide many details at the time. As the US space agency now explains, it was previously only confident that the camera would survive eight flybys of the largest planet in the solar system. The radiation conditions there are extremely damaging to the electronics, and nobody knew how long the camera would last. When the transmitted images finally showed more and more errors, the so-called annealing process was used. It is known from materials science that defects in a material can be repaired by controlled heating and cooling. This worked very well with the JunoCam.
NASA is so satisfied with the success of the measure that various modifications of this annealing technique have already been applied to other Juno instruments and technical subsystems. The probe has now orbited Jupiter 74 times, and the noise in the images has recently returned. It is not clear from the report whether further heating is planned. However, Juno's head of research, Scott Bolton, explains that a lot has been learned from the probe's procedure, which will also be applicable to commercial and military satellites as well as other NASA missions.
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Juno arrived at Jupiter nine years ago and has been orbiting the gas giant ever since. Among other things, the NASA probe has already been able to determine that the planet's magnetic field is significantly stronger than expected. In addition, thanks to Juno, the researchers have already been able to observe that the gas giant's north pole differs significantly from its south pole. Analyzing the poles was one of the most important goals of the mission, as they were previously not visible to passing probes and were therefore still largely unexplored. The probe also contributed to the exploration of the volcanoes on Io. In 2025, the duration of the mission was extended until September of this year.
(mho)
