SA's Juno probe exits safe mode

Washington, Oct 26: SA’s Juno spacecraft at Jupiter that entered safe mode on October 18 when a software performance monitor induced a reboot of the spacecraft’s onboard computer, has left safe mode, SA said. “Juno exited safe mode as expected, is healthy and is responding to all our commands,” Rick Nybakken, Juno project mager from SA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasade, California, said in a statement on Tuesday. The team is still investigating the cause of the reboot and assessing two main engine check valves. Indicating its good health, the spacecraft on Tuesday also successfully completed a minor burn of its thruster engines in preparation for its next close flyby of Jupiter. “We anticipate we will be turning on the instruments in early November to get ready for our December flyby,” Nybakken noted. The burn, which lasted just over 31 minutes, changed Juno’s orbital velocity by about 2.6 metres per second and consumed about 3.6 kilograms of propellant. Juno will perform its next science flyby of Jupiter on December 11. The complete suite of Juno’s science instruments, as well as the JunoCam imager, will be collecting data during the upcoming flyby. The Juno spacecraft launched from Cape Caveral, Florida on August 5, 2011, and arrived at Jupiter on July 4, 2016. (IANS)