Jupiter’s probe extended its life: it will fly to other objects in the system of the gas giant

The US Aerospace Administration has extended the research mission of the interplanetary unmanned station Juno until September 2025 – or until the time when the device finally “dies” due to the strongest radiation in the Jupiter region. This was reported by the press service of the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

Launched in 2011, Juno arrived on Jupiter on July 4, 2016, and will complete scheduled targets this July. Now the device, which was “sharpened” for collecting data mainly about the gas giant (about the gravitational and magnetic fields, internal structure), will explore the system “Jupiter + its rings + the largest Galilean satellites”.

The approved expansion of the mission involves 42 additional orbits around the largest planet in the solar system, including close flyby over Jupiter’s north polar cyclones, as well as passages around Io (11), Ganymede (2), Europa (3) and the first extensive exploration of the planet’s faint rings.

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Meetings with satellites will begin with a low-altitude flyby of Ganymede on June 7, 2021 (orbital PJ34), which will reduce the orbital period from 53 to 43 days. This will then be followed by a close flyby over Europe on September 29, 2022 (PJ45), which will shorten the orbital period to 38 days. A pair of close fly-bys around Io on December 30, 2023 (PJ57) and February 3, 2024 (PJ58) will collectively shorten the orbital period to 33 days.

The mission extension is designed to maximize fuel savings (not including the main engine) through gravity assist when flying near satellites.

• Collected by Juno, the agency’s most distant planetary orbiter, the data will help develop the next generation of missions to the Jupiter system, the Europa Clipper (NASA) and JUICE (ESA).
• In the fall of 2019, this NASA probe near Jupiter was rescued from a cold “death” in the dark.