A NASA spacecraft has taken its first image of one of the solar system’s most infernal moons

The problem – the inability to directly access the spacecraft’s memory that stores scientific data collected in flight – may have been caused by a radiation spike when Juno flew through a region of Jupiter’s magnetosphere with a high intensity of radiation. Controllers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and their partners successfully restarted the computer andOn December 17, they put the ship into safe mode, a precaution in which only the primary systems are working.

As of December 22, The flyby’s data recovery procedures have yielded positive results, and the team is already downloading the scientific data. There is no indication that scientific data obtained at the time of the closest approach to Jupiter, or during the spacecraft’s flyby of Jupiter’s moon Io, were negatively affected, according to the British newspaper The Guardian. Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) On December 22nd.

it is expected that The rest of the science data collected during the flyby will be sent back to Earth over the next week. The moment when its status will be checked. The ship is expected to be out of safe mode within a week. Juno’s next flyby of Jupiter will take place on January 22, 2023.

the NASA Juno mission He is Part of his ongoing exploration of Jupiter’s inner moons. Now in the second year of its expanded mission to explore the interior of Jupiter, the solar-powered spacecraft has made a close flyby of the moons. Ganymede in 2021 and From Europe at the beginning of this year.

“The team is really excited that the expanded Juno mission will include studying the moons of Jupiter. said Scott Bolton, principal investigator for Juno, Inc Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio December 15th. “Juno’s sensors are designed to study Jupiter, but we’re pleased with how well they can do double duty when observing Jupiter’s moons.”

Several articles based on the Ganymede flyby were recently published on June 7, 2021 in GoGeophysical research jar and General Electricor physical research letters. They include findings relating to the interior of the Moon, the composition of the surface and the ionosphere, With its interaction with Jupiter’s magnetosphere, from data obtained during the flyby. Preliminary results from Juno’s flyby of Europa on Sept. 9 include the first 3D observations of Europa’s ice sheet.

During the flyby, Juno’s Microwave Radiometer (MWR) added a third dimension to the mission’s exploration of Jupiter’s moon: Provide a groundbreaking look beneath the water ice crust of Ganymede and Europa to obtain data on its structure, purity, and temperature as low as 24 kilometers below the surface.

Visible light photography Obtained by the spacecraft’s JunoCam, In addition to previous missions to Jupiter, they indicate that Ganymede’s surface features a mixture of ancient dark terrain, younger bright terrain, and bright craters, In addition to the linear features that are likely associated with tectonic activity.

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“When we combine MWR data with surface images, “We found that the differences between these different types of terrain are not just superficial,” Bolton said. “The young, bright terrain appears cooler than the dark terrain, and the coldest area sampled was a city-sized Truss impact crater. Preliminary analysis by the science team suggests that Ganymede’s conductive ice cap may average about 30 miles or more in thickness. , With the potential for the ice to be significantly thicker in certain areas.”

During the spacecraft’s approach to Ganymede in June 2021, the Juno Magnetic Field Experiment (MAG) and Jovian Auroral Distributions (JADE) instruments recorded data showing evidence of breaking and reshaping of the magnetic field connections between Jupiter and Ganymede. Juno’s Ultraviolet Spectrometer (UVS) He was observing similar events with the moon’s ultraviolet aurora emissions, arranged in two ovals surrounding Ganymede.

“Nothing is easy or small when your neighbor is the largest planet in the solar system.” said Thomas Greathouse, Juno scientist from SwRI. “This was the first measurement of this complex interaction on Ganymede. This gives us a very early tantalizing glimpse into the information we hope to learn from JUICE (short for JUpiter ICy moons Explorer) and NASA’s Europa Clipper missions.”

Jupiter’s moon Io the most volcanic place in the solar system, He will remain the focus of the Juno team for the next year and a half. Its exploration of the Moon on December 15 will be the first of nine flybys, two of which are just 1,500 kilometers apart.

Juno scientists will use that flyby to conduct the first high-resolution observational campaign on the magma-covered moon, studying Io’s volcanoes and how volcanic eruptions interact with Jupiter’s powerful magnetosphere and aurora borealis.

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