Strange timing leaves NASA's Juno probe to Jupiter in unknown state

This is one of those stories that you hear and just think the people running these things are too smart for something this stupid to show up.  There must be more to it, but much like the celebrated offspring from crossbreeding a rhinoceros and an elephant, it's an elephino.  

Space.com reports the setup this way

NASA's spinning spacecraft studying the satellites of the solar system's largest celestial body (aside from the sun), may already be switched off, but the space agency won't say.  

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NASA has extended Juno's mission multiple times, most recently in 2021, guaranteeing operations through Sept. 30, 2025. That date has now passed, and with the U.S. government shut down, there is no word yet on whether Juno will come out alive on the other side.

Now I don't find that to be among the more clear things I've read (especially combined with the rest) but apparently the end of the operation extension was to coincide with the end of Fiscal Year, or September 30, 2025.  Since the government shutdown was on October 1st, it seems someone forgot to do something about Juno and now NASA isn't saying anything about whether Juno is still running.  Maybe someone intended to make sure they could extend the mission and just plain forgot.  Maybe the people running the satellite couldn't even think of some new science to do with the little probe and figured they wouldn't get approved for new money for Juno and just said, "good night, Juno."  I just figure if it was that last one, they'd have told someone and word would have gotten around.  

In an email shared with Space.com, NASA Planetary Science Division Media Lead Molly Wasser referenced Juno's 2021 extension saying the "mission was extended to September of 2025. This is the most recent update. Regarding the future of the mission, NASA will abide by the law."

Due to the government shutdown, NASA is currently unable to say whether Juno is still operating or already powered down. At the time of publication, responses from agency officials state that "NASA is currently closed due to a lapse in government funding … Please reach back out after an appropriation or continuing resolution is approved."

They go on to add that there are "excepted activities" that can go on during a shutdown, but those are activities required to protect life, property, or national security and I can't see how Juno could fall under those.  There's also an exception that says "presidential priorities" can be funded, but Juno doesn't appear to be one of those, either.  A clue is that Juno was zeroed out in the draft NASA budget that was submitted before the shutdown. 

This is the first government shutdown in a few years, so it's possible the people that knew how to keep probes alive during a shutdown are gone.  

Basically, until normal government operations resume, we won't even know if Juno's operational.  If they do an orderly shutdown, perhaps diving the spacecraft into one of the Jovian moons or Jupiter itself, that's about the best case.  The next big probe to Jupiter is Europa Clipper. That big probe is a bit under a year into its mission to the planetary system with arrival expected in 2030.  

A visualization of NASA's Juno probe orbiting Jupiter. (Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech)