Danny Chadwick
NASA’s Juno spacecraft returned to nominal operations on December 29th, 2022, after spending 12 days in safe mode. The craft went into the protective mode in response to a memory anomaly that occurred on December 14th. The space agency stated that the incident corrupted only a small portion of data.
The memory anomaly affected Juno’s ability to directly access the science data collected during a recent flyby of Jupiter. NASA states the most likely cause of the malfunction was a spike in radiation that occurred when the craft passed through an intensive portion of the planet’s magnetosphere.
Mission control was able to successfully reboot the craft’s computer system and put it into safe mode on December 17th. According to NASA, placing the spacecraft into safe mode was a cautionary measure. By December 22nd, the space agency was able to begin recovering the craft’s scientific data.
Data from the close flyby of Jupiter that occurred on December 14th yielded highly positive results. The space agency says that the data from the Jupiter flyby and its moon appear intact. The next flyby of the gas giant is expected to occur on January 22nd.
Source: NASA
