Juno probe: Nasa spacecraft successfully enters Jupiter's orbit

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Time Out
Jul 4, 2016
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According to a report of "The Guardian", Cheers in Nasa control room as Juno space probe enters planned orbit of Jupiter to study solar system’s largest planet.
 

Danbones

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Sep 23, 2015
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What is it with a$$tronauts and probes and uranus...?
this gay pride thing has gone far enough

Nasa - Never A Straight Answer
hopefully they get the color right in the photographs this time
 

Blackleaf

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It has a British rocket engine, built in Westcott, Buckinghamshire.



Juno mission: British rocket engine ready for Jupiter task - BBC News
 

spaminator

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Oct 26, 2009
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Welcome to Jupiter: NASA spacecraft reaches giant planet
Alicia Chang, The Associated Press
First posted: Monday, July 04, 2016 11:17 AM EDT | Updated: Tuesday, July 05, 2016 09:22 AM EDT
PASADENA, Calif. -- Braving intense radiation, a NASA spacecraft reached Jupiter on Monday after a five-year voyage to begin exploring the king of the planets.
Ground controllers at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Lockheed Martin erupted in applause when the solar-powered Juno spacecraft beamed home news that it was circling Jupiter's poles.
The arrival at Jupiter was dramatic. As Juno approached its target, it fired its rocket engine to slow itself down and gently slipped into orbit. Because of the communication time lag between Jupiter and Earth, Juno was on autopilot when it executed the tricky move.
"Juno, welcome to Jupiter," said mission control commentator Jennifer Delavan of Lockheed Martin, which built Juno.
Mission managers said early reports indicated Juno was healthy and performed flawlessly.
"Juno sang to us and it was a song of perfection," JPL project manager Rick Nybakken said during a post-mission briefing.
The spacecraft's camera and other instruments were switched off for arrival, so there weren't any pictures at the moment it reached its destination. Afterward, NASA released a time-lapse video taken last week during the approach, showing Jupiter glowing yellow in the distance and its four inner moons dancing around it.
The view yielded a surprise: Jupiter's second-largest moon, Callisto, appeared dimmer than initially thought. Scientists have promised close-up views of the planet when Juno skims the cloud tops during the 20-month, $1.1 billion mission.
The fifth rock from the sun and the heftiest planet in the solar system, Jupiter is what's known as a gas giant -- a ball of hydrogen and helium -- unlike rocky Earth and Mars.
With its billowy clouds and colourful stripes, Jupiter is an extreme world that likely formed first, shortly after the sun. Unlocking its history may hold clues to understanding how Earth and the rest of the solar system developed.
Named after Jupiter's cloud-piercing wife in Roman mythology, Juno is only the second mission designed to spend time at Jupiter.
Galileo, launched in 1989, circled Jupiter for nearly a decade, beaming back splendid views of the planet and its numerous moons. It uncovered signs of an ocean beneath the icy surface of the moon Europa, considered a top target in the search for life outside Earth.
Juno's mission: To peer through Jupiter's cloud-socked atmosphere and map the interior from a unique vantage point above the poles. Among the lingering questions: How much water exists? Is there a solid core? Why are Jupiter's southern and northern lights the brightest in the solar system?
"What Juno's about is looking beneath that surface," Juno chief scientist Scott Bolton said before the arrival. "We've got to go down and look at what's inside, see how it's built, how deep these features go, learn about its real secrets."
There's also the mystery of its Great Red Spot. Recent observations by the Hubble Space Telescope revealed the centuries-old monster storm in Jupiter's atmosphere is shrinking.
The trek to Jupiter, spanning nearly five years and 1.8 billion miles (2.8 billion kilometres), took Juno on a tour of the inner solar system followed by a swing past Earth that catapulted it beyond the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.
Along the way, Juno became the first spacecraft to cruise that far out powered by the sun, beating Europe's comet-chasing Rosetta spacecraft. A trio of massive solar wings sticks out from Juno like blades from a windmill, generating 500 watts of power to run its nine instruments.
In the coming days, Juno will turn its instruments back on, but the real work won't begin until late August when the spacecraft swings in closer. Plans called for Juno to swoop within 3,000 miles (5,000 kilometres) of Jupiter's clouds -- closer than previous missions -- to map the planet's gravity and magnetic fields in order to learn about the interior makeup.
Juno is an armoured spacecraft -- its computer and electronics are locked in a titanium vault to shield them from harmful radiation. Even so, Juno is expected to get blasted with radiation equal to more than 100 million dental X-rays during the mission.
Like Galileo before it, Juno meets its demise in 2018 when it deliberately dives into Jupiter's atmosphere and disintegrates -- a necessary sacrifice to prevent any chance of accidentally crashing into the planet's potentially habitable moons.
3-2-1: A look at NASA's Jupiter mission by the numbers
Since launching in 2011, NASA's Juno spacecraft has been cruising toward the biggest planet in the solar system. On Monday, Juno performed a nail-biting move that placed it into orbit around Jupiter to explore its cloud-covered atmosphere and interior makeup.
Here are a few key numbers about the $1.1 billion mission:
1.8 billion miles (2.8 billion kilometres): That's the total distance travelled from launch to arrival. Juno's journey wasn't a straight shot. Because the rocket that carried Juno wasn't powerful enough to boost it directly to Jupiter, it took a longer route. It looped around the inner solar system and then swung by Earth, using our planet as a gravity slingshot to hurtle toward the outer solar system.
3,100 miles (5,000 kilometres): That's how close Juno will fly to Jupiter's cloud tops. It'll pass over the poles 37 times during the mission on a path that avoids the most intense radiation.
48 minutes, 19 seconds: That's the time it took for radio signals from Jupiter to reach Earth. During the encounter, Juno fired its main engine for about a half hour to slow down. By the time ground controllers received word, the engine burn was completed, placing Juno in orbit.
20 months: That's how long the mission will last. Because Juno is in a harsh radiation environment, its delicate electronics are housed in a special titanium vault. Eventually, Juno will succumb to the intense radiation and will be commanded to plunge into Jupiter's atmosphere to avoid any collision with the planet's moons.
Nine: Juno carries a suite of nine instruments to explore Jupiter from its interior to its atmosphere. It will map Jupiter's gravity and magnetic fields and track how much water is in the atmosphere. Its colour camera dubbed JunoCam will snap close-ups of Jupiter's swirling clouds, polar regions and shimmering southern and northern lights.
Three: Three massive solar wings extend from Juno, making it the most distant solar-powered spacecraft. The panels can generate 500 watts of electricity, enough to power the instruments.
Welcome to Jupiter: NASA spacecraft reaches giant planet | World | News | Toront

 

Johnnny

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Jun 8, 2007
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Third rock from the Sun
Im like totally f@cking excited that this probe is taking pictures of Jupiter and not Uranus....

Man what a sh!tty joke

But seriously, im quite excited about this new space craft doing its mission... Cassini Huygens kinda dried up in the news department and the New Horizons page is boooring....
 

Danbones

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Sep 23, 2015
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oh god
the urpeter and uranus jokes
they should not call these things probes
 

spaminator

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NASA's Juno spacecraft beams first pictures from Jupiter
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
First posted: Wednesday, July 13, 2016 01:09 AM EDT | Updated: Wednesday, July 13, 2016 01:13 AM EDT
PASADENA, Calif. -- A NASA spacecraft has sent back the first pictures since arriving at Jupiter.
An image released Tuesday shows Jupiter surrounded by three of its four largest moons. The picture was taken on Saturday when the Juno spacecraft was circling 3 million miles away. Even at that distance, Jupiter's Great Red Spot -- a centuries-old atmospheric storm -- was visible.
Juno entered orbit around Jupiter last week after a five-year journey. It's on a 20-month mission to map the giant planet's poles, atmosphere and interior.
During the approach, the camera and instruments were powered off as a precaution as Juno braved intense radiation. The instruments were turned back on several days after the arrival.
Scientists have said close-ups of Jupiter won't come until next month when Juno swings back around.
This July 10, 2016, image released by NASA was taken by the Juno spacecraft, five days after it arrived at Jupiter. The image shows Jupiter's Great Red Spot and three of its four largest moons. Juno is on a 20-month mission to study Jupiter's poles, atmosphere and interior. (Juno/NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS via AP)

NASA's Juno spacecraft beams first pictures from Jupiter | World | News | Toront