“Mary’s tricks” that saved Juno’s camera in NASA from Jupiter’s hell

Nassa Juno A spacecraft, which was launched in 2011 to investigate the origin and development of Jupiter, travels through the most dense planetary radiation fields in the solar system. When Junocam is of the spacecraft-the visual color of the color-to suffer from the consequences in December 2023, the mission team had to return on the ground to think about a remote reform before they lost their chance to photograph Jovian, IO.

It was a relatively simple process in the end, which enabled the long term: heating the tool before it slowly cooled (I trust that they tried to turn it back again). The experiment provided insightful lessons in the radiological tolerance of the spacecraft of mission scientists outside the Juno team, according to the jet payment laboratory. statement Posted yesterday.

Scientists have estimated that Junocam, whose visual unit is outside the cellar of protective radiation, can resist radiation in the first eight orbits in the spacecraft around Jupiter. It was not even the forty -fourth Juno orbit, however, scientists began monitoring radiation damage.

The team identified evidence indicating that the radiation has been harmed by the voltage regulator, which is decisive for power supply in Junocam. Of hundreds of millions of miles, their options were limited. As such, they decided to try a less well -known process called steel, which consists of heating a material for a certain period of time to reduce its flaws before cooling slowly.

“We knew that steel could sometimes change a substance like silicon at a microscopic level, but we did not know whether this would be more harmful,” said Jacob Shavener, a photography engineer in Junocam of space science systems at the statement. “We have ordered the one Junocam heater to raise the camera temperature to 77 degrees Fahrenheit (25 ° C) – warmer than the typical for Jonocam – and I waited with breathing full of seeing the results.”

While their success enabled Junocam successful to take clear pictures of many orbits, the spacecraft continued in a barrel in radiation fields on Jupiter, and the damage soon was clear again.

“After Orbit 55, our photos were full of conditions and noise,” Michael Ravin, Junocam, also explained by Malin Space Science Systems. “We have tried various photo processing plans to improve quality, but nothing has succeeded. With the close meeting of IO who carries us in a few weeks, this was Mary: the only thing that we did not try to run the Junocam heater along the way and know if more steel is an extremist to provide us with.”

Initially, the most extreme steel does not seem to result in any improvements, but with the approach of the IO approach, and with only days to go, the pictures suddenly improved. On December 30, 2023, Junocam succeeded in arresting the details Photos From the Arctic region of IO, including previously not documented volcanoes. Scientists have been achieved at the Conference of the Institute of Electricity and Electronics Engineers and Nuclear effects in Nashville on July 16.

Despite the fact that the corruption of the image returned during its seventy -fourth orbit, “Juno teaches us how to create and preserve the tolerant spacecraft with radiation, and to provide visions that will benefit satellites in orbit around the Earth,” explained by Scott Bolton, the main investigator of Juno at the Southern West Research Institute. “I expect the lessons learned from Juno be applicable to both defensive and commercial satellites as well as other NASA tasks.”