Well Past Warranties

In taking an other look at a “space and astronomy news” site I frequent, I noticed a picture of Jupiter’s moon Io from the Juno space probe and looked in on the article. Aware that Io is deep down in Jupiter’s dangerous radiation belts, I had the impression the mission is taking more chances as it goes longer; at the same time, I had the impression the camera has lasted longer than it had been expected to. In looking up further information about the camera (including explanations of why its images sometimes look more peculiar than the picture of Io did, being built up one strip at a time), though, I did notice comments it is starting to show signs of wear.

After looking at that article I decided to look at another one mentioning the Ingenuity mini-helicopter has now managed sixty-nine flights on Mars. News of a fiftieth flight had impressed me a number of months ago; as I’d said before, I guess I’d had the impression starting off the little solar panel atop the helicopter’s rotors was only good for stretching out an initial charge from the much larger power supply of the Perseverance rover. I can suppose the longevity of these two missions is a matter of “care taken during construction.”