JunoCam

JunoCam (or JCM) is a visible-light camera/telescope for the Juno Jupiter Orbiter, a NASA space probe to the planet Jupiter launched on 5 August 2011. It was built by Malin Space Science Systems.[1]

The camera is based on the Mars Science Laboratory MARDI instrument,[1] and is designed to operate for seven orbits around Jupiter because of the planet's comparatively intense radiation and magnetic field.[1] Part of its mission will be to provide views of Jupiter's polar region and very low latitude cloud belts,[1] and at Juno's intended orbit the camera is able to take images at up to 15 kilometers (9.3 mi) per pixel resolution.[1] The probe's planned orbit is highly elongated[2] and takes it close to the poles (within 4300 km (~2,670 miles)), but then far beyond even Callisto's orbit.[2] This helps it avoid Jupiter's radiation belts which are damaging to spacecraft electronics and solar panels.[2] The 'Juno Radiation Vault', with titanium walls, will also aid in protecting and shielding Juno's electronics.[3] For comparison, the Galileo probe to Jupiter, which was in an equatorial orbit[2], had to endure over 20 radiation anomalies, exceeding its design limit by at least a factor of three.[4]

The telescope/camera has a field of view of 18 x 3.4 degrees with three color filters.[5] The camera is run by the JunoCam Digital Electronics Assembly (JDEA) also made by MSSS.[1] The camera (like the mission itself) is not designed to look at the moons of Jupiter.[2] Even though it is small, at its closest approaches JunoCam could achieve 15 km/pixel resolution from 4300 km, while Hubble has taken images of up to 114 km/pixel from 600 million km.[6] The camera uses a Kodak image sensor, the KODAK KAI-2020, capable of color imaging at 1600 x 1200 pixels.[7]

In 2005 the Italian Space Agency (ASI) proposed an additional visible light instrument 'ItaCam', but instead they built a near-infrared camera/spectrometer, "Jovian Infrared Auroral Mapper" (JIRAM) and a Ka-band transponder.[2] ASI previously contributed a near-infrared instrument to the Cassini–Huygens Saturn probe.[2]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f JunoCam
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Bruce Moomaw, Juno Gets A Little Bigger With One More Payload For Jovian Delivery, 2007
  3. ^ Setting up Juno's Radiation Vault (NASA)
  4. ^ Galileo (spacecraft), (last visited Sept. 21, 2010).
  5. ^ Patrick G. J. Irwin - Giant Planets of Our Solar System: Atmospheres, Composition, and Structure (2009) - Page 352, Google Books 2010
  6. ^ Collision leaves giant Jupiter bruised - NASA, ESA, Michael Wong (Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, MD), H. B. Hammel (Space Science Institute, Boulder, CO) and the Jupiter Impact Team (accessed September 25th 2010)
  7. ^ Photexels - Junocam Uses Kodak Image Sensor To Capture Jupiter (August 5, 2011)

See also

Other cameras manufactured by Malin Space Science Systems:

External links