A couple of ongoing NASA missions – the Juno spacecraft orbiting Jupiter and the InSight lander on Mars – have been expanded after an external overhaul.
An independent review group said both Juno and InSight have “produced exceptional science” and that both missions should be allowed to continue, seconds to a NASA statement.
“The Senior Review has validated that these two planetary science missions are likely to continue to bring new discoveries and produce new questions about our solar system,” said Lori Glaze, director of NASA’s division of planetary sciences.
The decision must have been a no-brainer, as the Juno and InSight missions have been quite successful and both continue to gather valuable scientific data. Also, expanding these missions is much cheaper than having to develop new missions. And as NASA noted, “extensions allow missions to continue to acquire valuable long-term datasets.”
Juno came to Jupiter in July 2016, where he has been working for the past four and a half years. The spacecraft was placed in a very elliptical orbit that takes it away from Jupiter, but during its periwinkle (closest approach) it reaches 4,184 kilometers (2,618 miles) from the tops of the gas giant’s clouds. Juno will make four perijoves in 2021, the first on February 21st.
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Juno has taken some beautiful photos Jupiter, and has made important contributions to our understanding of the planet’s atmosphere, its inner structure (including shallow lightning and mild hail), and magnetosphere.
By extension, Juno will be in business until 2025 (assuming it doesn’t expire first), during which time it will explore Jupiter’s rings (yes, Jupiter has rings) and several large moons, namely Io, Ganymede and Europa, the latter of which could port basic life under its frozen surface. The extension of the mission is good news, just as NASA was planning crash Juno to Jupiter later this year to prevent contamination of the Jovian system.
InSight arrived at Elysium Planitia on Mars in November 2018. Stationary lander controls Martian climate, detects weak Marsquakes, collects data related to the dynamic atmosphere and the magnetic field of the planet and occasionally has a shooting with a dust devil. InSight’s mission will be extended until at least December 2022, with an added emphasis on tectonic activity control.
The lander’s problematic heat probe instrument and physical properties (HP3) has been a major headache, which has required a lot of attention from the NASA team and DLR, the German space agency responsible for the probe. Baptized as the mole, he was supposed to dig up to a depth of up to 3 meters.
The last word of the mole was yes completely buried, but it is not yet clear if the device can deepen. The probe is probably fine in terms of its operation; the problem has to do with the type of Martian regolith, called durcrust (a compound similar to cement), that the drill finds. Going forward, NASA will continue to deploy the mole, but with a lower priority.
In February 18, InSight, along with Curiosity, will join NASA’s Perseverance rover. The next generation the rover will have to endure “seven minutes of terror”During its descent, as it tries to land gently in the Jezero crater, where there was an ancient lake and river delta.