The Juno mission of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) veered away from its prior plan to move closer into Jupiter's orbit. This was announced on February 17 after NASA's meeting for the entire Juno mission.
According to the official statement by NASA, Juno will remain in its current orbit for the remaining days of the mission to achieve and continue its goals without the burden and risks of changing orbits. Thomas Zurbuchen, an associate administrator for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, shared that Juno is working well with its instruments and parts fully functional and NASA made a good decision to avoid the risks of possibly destroying the entire Juno by orbiting closer in to Jupiter.
Since its arrival in Jupiter on July 4 last year, Juno has been providing plenty of data to NASA and other affiliated agencies. However, Juno was planned to have an engine burn to have a shorter orbital but this was canceled after issues such as on its helium valves arise, according to Space.
In this regard, Rick Nybakken, the project manager of the Juno mission, further explained that they really planned on shortening the orbit duration of Juno. However, disadvantages arise such as the issue on burns which can disrupt the entirety of the objectives of the Juno mission.
Initially, the shortened plan, a 14-day orbit, would entail a compressed task for the Juno mission which would gather 30 flybys. But with the longer 53-day orbit, only 12 flybys are expected. Despite this, NASA clarified that they're also expecting that with a longer duration, Juno can provide more breathtaking data and images.This "bonus science" will include more footages from Jupiter's magnetic field from the magnetotail up to the magnetopause. The most recent flyby of NASA's Juno was on February 2. Juno will continue another flyby on March 27.
