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Jet Propulsion Laboratory Spacecraft Has Engine Trouble, Critical Maneuver May Be Postponed

Published on Monday, October 17, 2016 | 7:56 pm
 
This artist's rendering shows NASA's Juno spacecraft making one of its close passes over Jupiter. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Mission managers for NASA’s Juno mission to Jupiter working out of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena have decided to postpone a critical maneuver of the spacecraft after it developed a problem with its main engine.

The spacecraft’s Period Reduction Maneuver (PRM) would be made possible with a final burn of its main rocket motor originally scheduled for Wednesday, October 19. This burn would reduce Juno’s orbital period around Jupiter from 53.4 to 14 days. JPL scientists will have to further study the performance of a set of valves that are part of the spacecraft’s fuel pressurization system.

“Telemetry indicates that two helium check valves that play an important role in the firing of the spacecraft’s main engine did not operate as expected during a command sequence that was initiated yesterday,” said Rick Nybakken, Juno project manager based at JPL. “The valves should have opened in a few seconds, but it took several minutes. We need to better understand this issue before moving forward with a burn of the main engine.”

After consulting with Lockheed Martin Space Systems of Denver and NASA Headquarters in Washington, the project managers decided to delay the PRM for at least one orbit. The most efficient time for such a burn would be when the spacecraft is at the part of its orbit closest to the planet. The next opportunity for the burn would be during its close flyby of Jupiter on December 11.

Mission designers had originally planned to limit the number of science instruments on during Juno’s October 19 close flyby of Jupiter. With the PRM postponed, all of the spacecraft’s science instruments will be gathering data during the upcoming flyby.

“It is important to note that the orbital period does not affect the quality of the science that takes place during one of Juno’s close flybys of Jupiter,” said Scott Bolton, Juno principal investigator out of the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio. “The mission is very flexible that way. The data we collected during our first flyby on August 27th was a revelation, and I fully anticipate a similar result from Juno’s October 19th flyby.”

JPL manages the Juno mission for the principal investigator, Scott Bolton. The spacecraft launched on August 5, 2011, from Cape Canaveral, Florida, and arrived at Jupiter on July 4, 2016. The mission is part of NASA’s New Frontiers Program, which is managed at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate. Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver, built the spacecraft.

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