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NDTV
2 days ago
- Science
- NDTV
NASA Reveals How It Fixed A Camera 370-Million-Miles Away In Deep Space
JunoCam, which is a colour, visible-light camera on NASA's Juno spacecraft, suffered radiation damage while orbiting Jupiter. The exposure caused image noise and streaks. The space agency said that the mission team of the Juno spacecraft executed the deep-space move in December 2023 to repair its JunoCam imager in order to capture photos of the Jovian moon Io. NASA engineers used an experimental technique called annealing, which means heating the camera to 77 degree F (25 degree C), to repair microscopic defects in the camera's silicon components. The annealing process successfully restored JunoCam's function, allowing it to capture high-quality images of Jupiter's moon Io, including its north polar region with sulfur dioxide frosts and volcanic activity. NASA said that the results from the "long-distance save" were presented during a technical session on July 16 at the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Nuclear & Space Radiation Effects Conference in Nashville. "We knew annealing can sometimes alter a material like silicon at a microscopic level but didn't know if this would fix the damage," JunoCam imaging engineer Jacob Schaffner of Malin Space Science Systems in San Diego said as quoted by NASA. "We commanded JunoCam's one heater to raise the camera's temperature to 77 degrees Fahrenheit - much warmer than typical for JunoCam - and waited with bated breath to see the results." Diagnosing and repairing the camera from 370 million miles away was a significant challenge, with the team relying on remote commands and waiting for results. The success of the annealing technique has implications for future space missions, showing the potential for remote diagnostics and repair in deep space. "After orbit 55, our images were full of streaks and noise," JunoCam instrument lead Michael Ravine of Malin Space Science Systems said as quoted by NASA. "We tried different schemes for processing the images to improve the quality, but nothing worked. With the close encounter of Io bearing down on us in a few weeks, it was Hail Mary time: The only thing left we hadn't tried was to crank JunoCam's heater all the way up and see if more extreme annealing would save us." NASA plans to apply this technique to other instruments and subsystems on the Juno spacecraft, and it may benefit satellites in Earth's orbit and future space missions. Despite the camera issue, Juno has continued to orbit Jupiter 74 times, providing valuable insights into the planet's atmosphere and polar regions.
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Science
- Yahoo
This camera was 370 million miles away when radiation fried the electronics. What NASA did next literally saved the mission
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. As a photographer, I've known the horror of opening images to find them corrupted – but I imagine that feeling pales in comparison to what NASA felt when Juno, a spacecraft orbiting Jupiter 370 million miles away, began returning corrupted images from a radiation-fried camera. Launching another camera isn't exactly an option, considering the total costs of the Juno spacecraft and mission sit a $1.13 billion, and it's not like there's a camera repair shop on Jupiter. So what did NASA do? NASA took a risk and intentionally overheated the camera in an attempt to save it. Juno, a spacecraft studying Jupiter, successfully completed its primary mission in 34 orbits. But as the spacecraft continued to study the planet, around the 47th orbit, the images that Juno sent back were beginning to show signs of sensor damage. Nine orbits later, and nearly all of the images that Juno was sending back were corrupted, with lines running through the images and more graininess than normal. NASA scientists theorized that the damage was due to radiation. JunoCam – which is a color, visible light camera – is housed in a 'radiation vault' lined with titanium, NASA says, but Jupiter has some of the most intense radiation in the Solar System. Essentially, that camera is traveling through radiation as strong as 100 million X-rays. Based on clues, NASA researchers believed that the damage to the camera was in a voltage regulator. But how do you repair a component integral to a camera's power supply from 370 million miles away? NASA turned to a little-understood process called annealing, a procedure for heating up a material for a certain length of time, then allowing it to cool. Annealing has been shown to alter materials like silicone, an essential component in a camera's sensor and electronics. 'We knew annealing can sometimes alter a material like silicon at a microscopic level but didn't know if this would fix the damage,' Jacob Schaffner, a JunoCam engineer from Malin Space Science Systems in San Diego, said. 'We commanded JunoCam's one heater to raise the camera's temperature to 77 degrees Fahrenheit — much warmer than typical for JunoCam — and waited with bated breath to see the results.' After overheating the camera, JunoCam began sending back cleaner images. But after a few more orbits, continuing to venture further into the radiation with each pass, the images began returning with defects once again. No amount of post-processing was able to recover the data, Michael Ravine, the JunoCam Instrument Lead, said, but Juno was due to orbit near the moon Io at the time. The team, keen to photograph one of Jupiter's moons and continue gathering visual data from the mission, tried one more thing. 'With the close encounter of Io bearing down on us in a few weeks, it was Hail Mary time: The only thing left we hadn't tried was to crank JunoCam's heater all the way up and see if more extreme annealing would save us,' Ravine said. Test images showed improvement after the first week, then, finally, as Juno was making its close approach to Io, the camera returned images nearly as good as the day the spacecraft's first images were taken, allowing researchers to capture images of Io. Io is one of 95 moons on Jupiter, but NASA says the moon is the most volcanically active space in the solar system. Repairing the camera allowed Juno to photograph the volcanoes dotting the surface. This Hail Mary move happened in December of 2023, but NASA recently presented the data at an engineering conference earlier this month. Since using the process to repair Juno's camera, the team has also used it to repair other components aboard Juno. The team expects that the process could be used to maintain spacecraft as well as satellites in the future. Juno has now orbited Jupiter 74 times and is beginning to show signs of further radiation damage. But, the annealing allowed researchers to catch a glimpse of the moon Io and continue photographing the planet. Not bad for long-distance camera repair. You may also like Browse the best lenses for astrophotography or take a look at DCW's top picks for the best tripods.
India Today
7 days ago
- Science
- India Today
How to repair a camera 595 million km away from Earth? Nasa just did it
A Nasa graphic showing Juno spacecraft orbiting Jupiter. (Photo: Nasa) JunoCam, a visible-light colour camera designed for capturing striking images of Jupiter Nasa engineers identified a likely culprit in the camera The camera's optical unit sits outside a titanium radiation vault In a remarkable feat of remote engineering, NASA successfully revived a damaged camera aboard its Juno spacecraft as it orbited Jupiter, approximately 595 million kilometers from Earth. The recovery, accomplished through an innovative 'annealing' technique, was presented in July at the IEEE Nuclear & Space Radiation Effects Conference, highlighting new strategies for protecting spacecraft instruments exposed to intense radiation environments. JunoCam, a visible-light colour camera designed for capturing striking images of Jupiter and its moons, has defied expectations by operating well beyond its intended lifespan. The camera's optical unit sits outside a titanium radiation vault, making it vulnerable to Jupiter's extremely harsh radiation belts, the most intense planetary radiation fields in the solar system. Initially expected to last only eight orbits, JunoCam functioned normally through the spacecraft's first 34 orbits. However, radiation-induced damage began showing by the 47th orbit, worsening until nearly all images were corrupted by orbit 56, exhibiting graininess and horizontal noise lines. NASA engineers identified a likely culprit: a damaged voltage regulator responsible for powering the camera. With few options for hardware repair across such vast distances, the team employed an experimental annealing process, raising the camera's temperature to 77 degrees Fahrenheit to reduce microscopic material defects caused by radiation. 'This was a long shot,' said Jacob Schaffner, JunoCam imaging engineer. Yet following the anneal, the camera resumed capturing clear imagesâ€'just in time to snap detailed views of Jupiter's volcanic moon Io during a close flyby on December 30, 2023. These images revealed intricate features such as sulfur dioxide frosts and active lava flows. Although radiation effects resurfaced in later orbits, more aggressive annealing attempts have been applied to other instruments aboard Juno, demonstrating promising potential to extend their operational lifetimes. Scott Bolton, Juno's principal investigator, remarked that lessons from this recovery effort will inform future spacecraft designs and benefit satellites orbiting Earth as well as other NASA missions confronting radiation challenges. Juno continues its mission around Jupiter, pioneering methods to thrive in one of the solar system's most extreme environmentsâ€'while teaching engineers how to save spacecraft hardware millions of miles away. In a remarkable feat of remote engineering, NASA successfully revived a damaged camera aboard its Juno spacecraft as it orbited Jupiter, approximately 595 million kilometers from Earth. The recovery, accomplished through an innovative 'annealing' technique, was presented in July at the IEEE Nuclear & Space Radiation Effects Conference, highlighting new strategies for protecting spacecraft instruments exposed to intense radiation environments. JunoCam, a visible-light colour camera designed for capturing striking images of Jupiter and its moons, has defied expectations by operating well beyond its intended lifespan. The camera's optical unit sits outside a titanium radiation vault, making it vulnerable to Jupiter's extremely harsh radiation belts, the most intense planetary radiation fields in the solar system. Initially expected to last only eight orbits, JunoCam functioned normally through the spacecraft's first 34 orbits. However, radiation-induced damage began showing by the 47th orbit, worsening until nearly all images were corrupted by orbit 56, exhibiting graininess and horizontal noise lines. NASA engineers identified a likely culprit: a damaged voltage regulator responsible for powering the camera. With few options for hardware repair across such vast distances, the team employed an experimental annealing process, raising the camera's temperature to 77 degrees Fahrenheit to reduce microscopic material defects caused by radiation. 'This was a long shot,' said Jacob Schaffner, JunoCam imaging engineer. Yet following the anneal, the camera resumed capturing clear imagesâ€'just in time to snap detailed views of Jupiter's volcanic moon Io during a close flyby on December 30, 2023. These images revealed intricate features such as sulfur dioxide frosts and active lava flows. Although radiation effects resurfaced in later orbits, more aggressive annealing attempts have been applied to other instruments aboard Juno, demonstrating promising potential to extend their operational lifetimes. Scott Bolton, Juno's principal investigator, remarked that lessons from this recovery effort will inform future spacecraft designs and benefit satellites orbiting Earth as well as other NASA missions confronting radiation challenges. Juno continues its mission around Jupiter, pioneering methods to thrive in one of the solar system's most extreme environmentsâ€'while teaching engineers how to save spacecraft hardware millions of miles away. Join our WhatsApp Channel
