The Juno space station entered safe mode due to a failure in the transmission of scientific data. The malfunction was caused by charged particles entering the station’s systems during the approach to Jupiter. Currently, data transmission from Juno has been resumed, and it is planned to bring it out of safe mode within a week. About it on its website informs NASA.
What does Juno do?
For the sixth year already, the largest planet of the Solar System, the gas giant Jupiter, has been studied by the Juno station. There are 10 scientific instruments on board the station, thanks to which we got the opportunity to learn about dawn storms on Jupiter, his famous The Great Red Spot, as well as about the satellites of the planet: Ganymede and Europe.
So far, “Juno” has made its 47th approach to the planet, after which the mission team encountered a failure in the transmission of scientific data from the station.
What happened to the station?
The normal procedure for transmitting the data was interrupted, and the dispatchers from the control center on Earth could not access it. According to NASA, the failure most likely occurred during Juno’s passage over the most active part of Jupiter’s magnetosphere, where the station encountered a stream of charged particles that entered its systems. NASA had to reboot Juno’s on-board computer and put the station in a safe mode, in which only the systems necessary to support the station work.
Now, according to NASA, data transmission has been restored. There is no indication that any set of information collected during the flyby has been lost. However, Juno will remain in safe mode for at least another week. The next approach to Jupiter is scheduled for January 22 next year.
