La NASA announced that it has extended the duration of the missions Juno and InSight due to the scientific results obtained by the latter. Good news for enthusiasts and researchers who will have access to new data regarding Jupiter and Mars. The decision was made after an external commission assessed its scientific performance.

Lori Glaze (director of NASA’s planetary science division) stated “the Senior Review has validated that these two planetary science missions will likely continue to bring new discoveries and produce new questions about our solar system “.

Not the first time missions are extended. Furthermore, as specified by NASA , this will reduce the overall costs since it will not be necessary to develop new missions for objectives already reachable from existing ones.

NASA extends the Juno and InSight missions

Di InSight we wrote several times. Although not a mission with rover but “only” a lander, it is a series of useful tools to understand the structure of Mars beyond to meteorology. Unfortunately, not everything went as planned, and in particular the self-pounding mole is giving particular problems in achieving the set goals. Despite everything, however, the other tools are working regularly, collecting useful information also in view of possible missions over the years 2021.

Mission NASA Juno collected information precious on the Jovian system and its moons. This allowed us to have a better understanding of the Solar System, its structure, its evolution. In addition, the foundations have been laid for future dedicated missions that will allow for further details on promising scenarios such as Ganymede, Io and Europa.

The independent commission has stated that the two missions have “produced an exceptional science” recommending the extension of duration. The mission Juno , as reported on the website of the NASA , will be extended until September 2025 , or a failure of the probe itself (which could happen sooner).

The goals are to continue monitoring , its rings (less spectacular than those of Saturn, but still present). In addition there will be close observations with the main moons of the gas giant: Ganymede, Europa and Io.

As for the mission NASA InSight , its duration is now given for December 2022 (two years beyond the initial provision). The extended mission will aim at the collection of high quality and long-lasting seismic data. In addition, the weather station will continue to operate and an attempt will be made to operate the self-hammering mole in order to have more data available.