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Forum:Satellites - Robotic Probes
Topic:NASA's Juno mission to explore Jupiter
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"Today, with the launch of the Juno spacecraft, NASA began a journey to yet another new frontier," NASA's Administrator Charles Bolden said. "The future of exploration includes cutting-edge science like this to help us better understand our solar system and an ever increasing array of challenging destinations."

After Juno's launch aboard an Atlas V rocket, mission controllers now await telemetry from the spacecraft indicating it has achieved its proper orientation, and that its massive solar arrays, the biggest on any NASA deep-space probe, have deployed and are generating power.

"We are on our way, and early indications show we are on our planned trajectory," said Jan Chodas, Juno project manager at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, Calif. "We will know more about Juno's status in a couple hours after its radios are energized and the signal is acquired by the Deep Space Network antennas at Canberra."


Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls

Juno will cover the distance from Earth to the moon (about 250,000 miles or 402,236 kilometers) in less than one day's time. It will take another five years and 1,740 million miles (2,800 million kilometers) to complete the journey to Jupiter.

Juno will orbit the planet's poles 33 times and use its collection of eight science instruments to probe beneath the gas giant's obscuring cloud cover to learn more about its origins, structure, atmosphere, and magnetosphere, and look for a potential solid planetary core.

With four large moons and many smaller moons, Jupiter forms its own miniature solar system. Its composition resembles a star's, and if it had been about 80 times more massive, the planet could have become a star instead.


Credit: ULA/Pat Corkery

"Jupiter is the Rosetta Stone of our solar system," said Scott Bolton, Juno's principal investigator from the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio. "It is by far the oldest planet, contains more material than all the other planets, asteroids and comets combined and carries deep inside it the story of not only the solar system but of us. Juno is going there as our emissary — to interpret what Jupiter has to say."

Juno's name comes from Greek and Roman mythology. The god Jupiter drew a veil of clouds around himself to hide his mischief, and his wife, the goddess Juno, was able to peer through the clouds and reveal Jupiter's true nature.

Robert Pearlman
Juno flying on its own to Jupiter

At 53 minutes and 14 seconds into its flight (1:18 p.m. EDT), the Juno spacecraft successfully separated from the Centaur upper stage and is now on its own on a path to Jupiter.

"Flight so far looks fantastic," NASA launch manager Omar Baez said, adding that Juno is in the right orbit to start its journey to Jupiter. "We're right on track for that, and everything looked good."

Juno has deployed its three tractor-trailer-size solar arrays. Each array is 29.5 feet long and 8.7 feet wide. There are 18,698 solar cells on the panels to generate approximately 400 watts of electricity once at Jupiter.

Robert Pearlman
Jupiter-bound Juno captures Earth and moon

On its way to the biggest planet in the solar system — Jupiter, NASA's Juno spacecraft took time to capture its home planet and its natural satellite — the moon.

"This is a remarkable sight people get to see all too rarely," said Scott Bolton, Juno principal investigator from the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio. "This view of our planet shows how Earth looks from the outside, illustrating a special perspective of our role and place in the universe. We see a humbling yet beautiful view of ourselves."

The image was taken by the spacecraft's camera, JunoCam, on Aug. 26 when the spacecraft was about 6 million miles (9.66 million kilometers) away. The image was taken as part of the mission team's checkout of the Juno spacecraft. The team is conducting its initial detailed checks on the spacecraft's instruments and subsystems after its launch on Aug. 5.

Juno covered the distance from Earth to the moon (about 250,000 miles or 402,000 kilometers) in less than one day's time. It will take the spacecraft another five years and 1,740 million miles (2,800 million kilometers) to complete the journey to Jupiter.

The spacecraft will orbit the planet's poles 33 times and use its eight science instruments to probe beneath the gas giant's obscuring cloud cover to learn more about its origins, structure, atmosphere and magnetosphere, and look for a potential solid planetary core.

The solar-powered Juno spacecraft lifted off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida at 9:25 a.m. PDT (12:25 p.m. EDT) on Aug. 5 to begin its five-year journey to Jupiter.

Robert Pearlman
Juno maneuvering for Earth flyby

Navigators and mission controllers for NASA's Juno mission to Jupiter have decided to reschedule the mission's second deep space maneuver for Sept. 14. The maneuver will set the stage for a gravity assist from a flyby of Earth on Oct. 9, 2013. Juno will arrive at Jupiter on July 4, 2016.

Juno's first deep space maneuver took place Aug. 30. The maneuver, as planned, changed the spacecraft's velocity by about 770 mph (344 meters a second) and lasted 29 minutes 39 seconds. Upon review of mission data following the burn, the team determined that although the first maneuver was completely successful, one of the propellant pressures within the spacecraft's propulsion system was higher than expected. The team has decided to take an extra 10 days to analyze this increase and consider mitigation options, placing the second deep space maneuver on Sept. 14. There will be no impact to the mission's timeline or science.

The two deep space maneuvers place Juno on course for its Earth flyby, which will occur as the spacecraft is completing one elliptical orbit around the sun. The Earth flyby will boost Juno's velocity by 16,330 mph (about 7.3 kilometers per second), placing the spacecraft on its final flight path for Jupiter. The closest approach to Earth on Oct. 9, 2013, will occur when Juno is at an altitude of about 310 miles (500 kilometers).

See here for discussion of Juno's launch and its mission to the planet Jupiter.

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