A pair of ongoing NASA missions – the Juno spacecraft orbiting Jupiter and the InSight lander on Mars – have been expanded following an external overhaul.
An independent evaluation group said that both Juno and InSight had “produced exceptional science” and that both missions should be allowed to continue, according to a NASA statement.
“The Senior Review has confirmed that these two planetary science missions will continue to make new discoveries and raise new questions about our solar system,” said Lori Glaze, director of NASA’s planetary science division.
The decision must have been crazy, as the Juno and InSight missions were quite successful and both continue to gather valuable scientific data. Moreover, the expansion of these missions is much cheaper than the need to develop new missions. And, as NASA pointed out, “extensions allow missions to continue to acquire valuable long-term data sets.”
Juno arrived on Jupiter in July 2016, where he worked for the last four and a half years. The spacecraft was placed in an extremely elliptical orbit that takes it away from Jupiter, but during its periwinkle (closest approach) it reaches a distance of 4,184 kilometers from the tops of the gas giant’s clouds. Juno will make four perijoves in 2021, the first on February 21.
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Juno took some of the most gorgeous photos and made important contributions to the understanding of the planet’s atmosphere, its inner structure (including shallow lightning and soft hail) and magnetosphere.
With the expansion, Juno will be active until 2025 – assuming it doesn’t expire first – during which time it will explore Jupiter’s rings (yes, Jupiter has rings) and several large months, namely Io, Ganymede and Europa, of which the latter could I’m wearing basic life beneath its frozen surface. The expansion of the mission is welcome news, as NASA plans crash Juno in Jupiter later this year to prevent contamination of the Jovian system.
InSight arrived at Elysium Planitia on Mars in November 2018. The stationary lander monitors Martian weather, detects fainting Earthquakes, collects data related to the dynamic atmosphere and magnetic field of the planet and occasionally has a meeting with a dust devil. The InSight mission will run until at least December 2022, with an additional focus on monitoring tectonic activity.
The problematic instrument of the lander’s heat probe and physical properties (HP3) was a major headache, requiring a lot of attention from the NASA team and DLR, the German space agency responsible for the probe. Nicknamed the mole, it should have dug to depths of up to 3 meters.
The last word on the mole was that it was completely buried, but it is not yet clear whether the device can drill deeper. Probably the probe is fine in terms of how it should work; the problem is related to the type of Martian regolith, called duricrust (a cement-like compound) encountered by drills. Going forward, NASA will continue to deploy the mole, but with a lower priority.
In February 18InSight, along with Curiosity, will be joined by NASA’s Perseverance rover. The next generation the rover will have to endure “seven minutes of terror“On the descent, while trying to make an easy landing at Jezero crater, the site of a former lake and river delta.