Juno mission: NASA’s Juno spacecraft to reach Jupiter on Fourth of July - TomoNews
- 8 years ago
PASADENA, CALIFORNIA — NASA’s Juno spacecraft is set to arrive at Jupiter on July 4 in a mission to study how the gas giant was formed and evolved.
The spacecraft was launched on August 5, 2011 and will enter orbit around Jupiter after a nearly five-year journey.
Juno will fire its main engine for 35 minutes during a dramatic insertion maneuver. The gravitational pull of Jupiter will make the spacecraft travel faster and faster until it reaches a speed of over 250,000 kilometers per hour, making it the fastest human-made object ever.
If it survives the maneuver, it will orbit Jupiter 37 times over the next 20 months, flying as close as within 5,000 kilometers above the planet’s cloud tops.
Juno’s mission includes studying the composition, temperature and water content of Jupiter's atmosphere. It will also study the planet’s auroras and magnetic and gravity fields.
Juno has surpassed European Space Agency’s Rosetta as the most distant solar-powered spacecraft from Earth.
The Juno mission has cost a total of $1.13 billion. The spacecraft will de-orbit and crash into Jupiter after it completes its mission.
The spacecraft was launched on August 5, 2011 and will enter orbit around Jupiter after a nearly five-year journey.
Juno will fire its main engine for 35 minutes during a dramatic insertion maneuver. The gravitational pull of Jupiter will make the spacecraft travel faster and faster until it reaches a speed of over 250,000 kilometers per hour, making it the fastest human-made object ever.
If it survives the maneuver, it will orbit Jupiter 37 times over the next 20 months, flying as close as within 5,000 kilometers above the planet’s cloud tops.
Juno’s mission includes studying the composition, temperature and water content of Jupiter's atmosphere. It will also study the planet’s auroras and magnetic and gravity fields.
Juno has surpassed European Space Agency’s Rosetta as the most distant solar-powered spacecraft from Earth.
The Juno mission has cost a total of $1.13 billion. The spacecraft will de-orbit and crash into Jupiter after it completes its mission.