Juno Armored Up to Go to Jupiter

Juno Armored Up to Go to Jupiter

July 12, 2010

NASA's Juno spacecraft will be forging ahead into a treacherous environment at Jupiter with more radiation than any other place NASA has ever sent a spacecraft, except the sun. In a specially filtered cleanroom in Denver, where Juno is being assembled, engineers recently added a unique protective shield around its sensitive electronics. New pictures of the assembly were released today.
美国国家航空航天局朱诺探测器即将踏上征途，前往险象环生的木星，探测器在那里将遭受到强烈宇宙射线的照射，强度将超过太阳系内除了太阳以外任何有探测器造访过的地方。在丹佛一个特别净化处理的厂房内，正在装配朱诺木星探测器，最近工程师们在探测器敏感电子元件周围加装了独特的防护装置，保护电子元件不受强烈宇宙射线的干扰。

"Juno is basically an armored tank going to Jupiter," said Scott Bolton, Juno's principal investigator, based at Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio. "Without its protective shield, or radiation vault, Juno's brain would get fried on the very first pass near Jupiter."

“朱诺木星探测器基本上是全副武装地前往木星”， 该探测器首席研究员斯科特博尔顿说，位于圣安东尼奥西南研究所，如果没有这些保护设备，或者射线屏障，朱诺探测器的中央处理器在通过木星附近时就可能失控。

An invisible force field filled with high-energy particles coming off from Jupiter and its moons surrounds the largest planet in our solar system. This magnetic force field, similar to a less powerful one around Earth, shields Jupiter from charged particles flying off the sun. The electrons, protons and ions around Jupiter are energized by the planet's super-fast rotation, sped up to nearly the speed of light.
在木星及其卫星附近会形成高能粒子场，这种磁场强度比环绕地球的磁场强度要弱，使木星能抵御来自太阳的带电粒子流。电子，质子，离子在木星附近被木星高速旋转影响下，加速至接近光速。

Jupiter's radiation belts are shaped like a huge doughnut around the planet's equatorial region and extend out past the moon Europa, about 650,000 kilometers (400,000 miles) out from the top of Jupiter's clouds.

木星的辐射带形似一个巨大的甜甜圈，环绕在赤道外围并向前延伸，穿过木卫二欧罗巴，由木星大气向外拓展大约650,000公里。

"For the 15 months Juno orbits Jupiter, the spacecraft will have to withstand the equivalent of more than 100 million dental X-rays," said Bill McAlpine, Juno's radiation control manager, based at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. "In the same way human beings need to protect their organs during an X-ray exam, we have to protect Juno's brain and heart."
朱诺探测器围绕木星在轨运行15个月期间，将承受强烈的X射线的照射，源强大约是牙科X射线剂量的一亿倍。朱诺探测器辐射控制管理，位于加州帕萨迪纳喷气推进实验室朱诺探测器辐射控制主管解释说，众所周知，当我们接受X射线照射检查时，应该保护其他器官，然而，朱诺探测器也应该对它的中央处理设备进行适当防护。


With guidance from JPL and the principal investigator, engineers at Lockheed Martin Space Systems designed and built a special radiation vault made of titanium for a centralized electronics hub. While other materials exist that make good radiation blockers, engineers chose titanium because lead is too soft to withstand the vibrations of launch, and some other materials were too difficult to work with.

在喷气推进实验室的指导下，洛克希德马丁公司空间系统部的主要研究人员和工程师们为探测器中央控制器设计了一个特殊的钛合金抗辐射拱顶。在选材上，其他材料也能制作成良好的辐射隔离带，但是工程师们选择了钛合金作为原始材料，这是由于其质地较为柔软，能承受发射过程中出现的振动，而其他材料就不能在这样的环境下继续保持稳定性。
Each titanium wall measures nearly a square meter (nearly 9 square feet) in area, about 1 centimeter (a third of an inch) in thickness, and 18 kilograms (40 pounds) in mass. This titanium box -- about the size of an SUV's trunk - encloses Juno's command and data handling box (the spacecraft's brain), power and data distribution unit (its heart) and about 20 other electronic assemblies. The whole vault weighs about 200 kilograms (500 pounds).
每个钛合金辐射屏蔽装置面积大约有一平方米，厚度为一厘米，18公斤重。整个由钛合金制作成的辐射屏蔽网大小相当于一辆SUV，将探测器的中央控制系统以及数据处理设备，电源等大约20个电子装备单元模块严严实实地罩了起来，整个拱顶的质量大约200公斤。

The vault is not designed to completely prevent every Jovian electron, ion or proton from hitting the system, but it will dramatically slow down the aging effect radiation has on electronics for the duration of the mission.
当然，这个抗辐射的拱顶不可能挡住每一个来自木星的电子，离子或者质子，但是这个装置能将辐射对探测器的影响降到最低，减缓仪器的老化，保证任务的完成。

When NASA's Galileo spacecraft visited Jupiter from 1995 to 2003, its electronics were shielded by special components designed to be resistant to radiation. Galileo also didn't need to survive the harshest radiation regions, where Juno will operate.
当NASA得伽利略探测器于1995至2003年造访木星时，其电子设备由特殊的防辐射装置屏蔽。即使是这样，伽利略探测器还是不能在如此严峻的辐射场条件下生存，然而朱诺探测器可以。

But Juno isn't relying solely on the radiation vault. Scientists designed a path that takes Juno around Jupiter's poles, spending as little time as possible in the sizzling radiation belts around Jupiter's equator. Engineers also used designs for electronics already approved for the Martian radiation environment, which is harsher than Earth's, though not as harsh as Jupiter's. Parts of the electronics were made from tantalum, or tungsten, another radiation-resistant metal. Some assemblies also have their own mini-vaults for protection.
但是朱诺探测器并不是只靠抗辐射的拱顶。工程师们为探测器设定了一个特定的绕木轨道，经过木星的极区，从而尽可能减少与环木星赤道辐射带的接触时间。同时也使用了已经运用于火星辐射环境的抗辐射措施，当然，火星的辐射环境虽然比地球来的严峻，但是没有木星那么残酷，借鉴在火星抗辐射环境上的技术，有助于加强探测器防辐射的技术成熟度。

JPL tested pieces of the vault in a radiation environment similar to Jupiter's to make sure the design will be able to handle the stress of space flight and the Jupiter environment, McAlpine said. In a special lead-lined testing tub there, they battered pieces of the spacecraft with gamma rays from radioactive cobalt pellets and analyzed the results for Juno's expedition.
喷气推进实验室在进行测试抗辐射拱顶时模拟了真实的木星辐射环境，确保原有的设计能符合空间飞行条件以及木星的轨道环境。 探测器上的抗辐射装置都会经过钴颗粒伽马射线放射测试，实验结果将为朱诺探测器提供技术上支持。

The vault was lifted onto Juno's propulsion module on May 19 at Lockheed Martin's high-bay cleanroom. It will undergo further testing once the whole spacecraft is put together. The assembly and testing process, which also includes installing solar panels for the first-ever solar-powered mission to Jupiter, is expected to last through next spring. Juno is expected to launch in August 2011.
5月19日，在洛克希德马丁公司高架无尘室内，抗辐射拱顶吊装到探测器推进模块上，进行进一步的系统集成测试。装配和测试过程也把包括安装太阳能电池板，整个测试过程将持续到明年春天，探测器预计于2011年8月发射。

"The Juno assembly is proceeding well," said Tim Gasparrini, Lockheed Martin program manager. "We have a number of the flight and test unit spacecraft avionics components installed into the radiation vault for system testing and we have also just installed the first instrument, the microwave radiometer."


据洛克希德马丁公司项目主任蒂姆·罗加斯帕里尼（Tim Gasparrini）介绍：朱诺探测器各子系统装配过程进展十分顺利，许多飞行测试数据单元以及航空电子组件陆续安装到抗辐射拱顶上进行测试，在此之后，微波辐射计将作为第一个第一个设备安装到位。
JPL manages the Juno mission for the principal investigator, Scott Bolton, of Southwest Research Institute at San Antonio, Texas. Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver, Colo., is building the spacecraft. The Italian Space Agency in Rome is contributing an infrared spectrometer instrument and a portion of the radio science experiment.
喷气推进实验室朱诺项目首席科学家为斯科特·博尔顿（Scott Bolton），洛克希德马丁公司位于丹佛的空间系统部负责制造探测器。意大利空间机构也参与了本项目，提供了红外光谱仪和一部分的无线电实验。

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