NASA successfully fixed a malfunction in the JunoCam on the Juno spacecraft through remote hardware hacking techniques. Originally designed to operate for eight orbits, JunoCam continued functioning for 46 orbits before radiation damage began to affect its performance. Scientists suspected a damaged voltage regulator and attempted to use annealing, a process of heating and cooling materials, to repair the defect. After a brief improvement, further annealing was performed, resulting in restored image quality just ahead of the flyby of the Jovian moon Io.
NASA was able to resolve a malfunction in the JunoCam on the Juno spacecraft by using remote hardware hacking techniques, including a process called annealing.
Initially designed to survive eight orbits, JunoCam continued functioning for 46 orbits before showing radiation damage, prompting scientists to investigate the issue.
After a series of unsuccessful image processing attempts, scientists successfully heated JunoCam to 77 degrees Fahrenheit, leading to a brief restoration of image clarity.
Following a second successful annealing experiment by maximizing the heater's temperature, JunoCam produced clear images for the upcoming flyby of Io.
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