spacetoday.net: Propulsion issue delays Juno maneuver

Posted: Wed, Sep 5, 2012, 6:42 AM ET (1042 GMT)
Juno spacecraft firing main engine (NASA)

NASA has delayed a trajectory correction maneuver by its Jupiter-bound Juno spacecraft for ten days in order to investigate an issue with the spacecraft's propulsion system, the space agency said Tuesday. NASA had planned to perform the second of a pair of thruster firings by the spacecraft on Tuesday to put the spacecraft on course for an Earth flyby in October 2013. However, engineers noticed that, after the first maneuver on August 30, one of the propellant pressures in the spacecraft's propulsion system was higher than expected. The ten-day delay,until September 14, will give engineers more time to study the problem and will not affect the spacecraft's long-term schedule. Juno was launched in August 2011 and is scheduled to go into orbit around Jupiter in July 2016 to study the planet's interior.