NASA escapes freezing in Jupiter's darkness

Juno spacecraft burns the engine for 10.5 hours to accelerate, beyond the sphere of eclipse effect.

NASA made the Juno engine combustion on October 1 with a particularly long time, 5 times longer than the previous one."This caused Juno's orbital velocity to change around 203 km / h and consumed 73kg of fuel. If not, Juno would have to fly in Jupiter's shadow for 12 hours, long enough for the battery to drain. No with a plummeting energy and temperature, Juno will succumb to the cold and cannot continue to operate, " NASA said.

Juno spacecraft operates in Jupiter orbit.(Photo: New Atlas).

The Juno vessel will depart in August 2011 and is scheduled to last 7 years. However, the ship exceeded its expectations and operated for more than 8 years. Juno entered the orbit of Jupiter on July 4, 2016. The ship is powered by solar energy, so a solar eclipse on Jupiter makes a big impact.

"After this success, we headed to the next jump out of the shadows on November 3. This is an extremely creative solution. Now, instead of worrying Juno will freeze to death, I'm looking forward to an examination." The next scientific discovery of Jupiter brings the ship, " said Scott Bolton, an expert at the Southwest Research Institute.

Before launching Juno, experts could not have predicted that such a long eclipse would send the ship into darkness, said Ed Hirst, Juno project manager at NASA."The planning and firing of the engine while the ship is in Jupiter's orbit demonstrates the skills, ingenuity of the project team, as well as the extraordinary flexibility and ability of the ship , " he said. talk.

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