The Digital Press

NASA successfully repaired the radiation-damaged camera on its Juno spacecraft orbiting Jupiter by using an experimental heating technique called annealing. This repair allowed Juno to capture high-quality images of Jupiter’s volcanic moon Io despite intense radiation exposure.

Why it matters: The annealing process restored JunoCam’s function, enabling continued scientific imaging deep in Jupiter’s harsh radiation environment.

The big picture: Lessons from Juno’s radiation repairs will inform future spacecraft designs for missions facing extreme radiation, including Earth satellites.

Testing limits: JunoCam’s repairs were done remotely over hundreds of millions of miles, pushing boundaries of in-space instrument recovery.

Commenters say: Readers are impressed by the technical ingenuity to fix distant spacecraft and discuss broader implications for deep-space mission resilience.