The JunoCam overheated and led to the loss of images of Jupiter
(NASA/JPL https://bit.ly/3XNQHF1)
Most of the images of Jupiter taken during the last approach of the Juno mission in mid-January turned out to be of poor quality due to overheating of the camera.
This is the second such incident, the causes of which have not yet been determined.
JunoCam is a telescopic color optical camera that has been installed at the Juno spaceship, which has been exploring Jupiter for six years.
The camera receives detailed images of the gas giant's eddies and clouds during the ship's approaches to the planet.
On December 14 of last year, just after 47 flybys of Jupiter, Juno suffered an on-board computer malfunction.
The failure was due to a charged particle hit, after which it did not return to normal until December 29.
When the ship completed the transfer of the collected scientific data to Earth, it turned out that 4 of the 90 images received by JunoCam were unusable.
The reason for the poor quality of the images was an anomalous increase in the temperature of the tool at the initial stage of shooting.
Later the temperature returned to an acceptable value.
FAILURE
However, on January 22, when Juno approached Jupiter 48 times, the camera overheated again and for more time (23 hours instead of 36 minutes).
This led to the loss of 214 Jupiter images, and only 44 images taken at the end of the span were of normal quality.
NASA engineers have not yet turned off JunoCam, but have not yet figured out the cause of overheating.
Initially, the camera was designed to operate in conditions of increased radiation in the Jupiter system, but its uninterrupted operation was guaranteed only for seven approaches to the gas giant.
Next Juno's approach to Jupiter, the number 49, is scheduled for March 1 of this year.
Sources:
- NASA: https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/nasas-juno-team-assessing-camera-after-48th-flyby-of-jupiter
- The Planetary Society: https://www.planetary.org/articles/juno-io-flybys
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