NASA Juno mission to Jupiter

[Rick]

NASA has confirmed a 2011 launch date for its Jupiter-bound Juno spacecraft, equipped to probe the planet's "formation, evolution and structure".

Scott Bolton, Juno principal investigator from the Southwest Research Institute, explained: "Jupiter is the archetype of giant planets in our solar system and formed very early, capturing most of the material left after the sun formed. Unlike Earth, Jupiter's giant mass allowed it to hold onto its original composition, providing us with a way of tracing our solar system's history."

More: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/11/25/juno_launch/

[Rick]

Juno Ready to Launch to Jupiter

The Juno spacecraft will soon be on its way to Jupiter on a mission to look deep beneath the planet's swirling curtain of clouds to find out what lies beneath. The answer might confirm theories about how the solar system formed, or it may change everything we thought we knew.

"The special thing about Juno is we're really looking at one of the first steps, the earliest time in our solar system's history," said Scott Bolton, the principal investigator for the Juno mission. "Right after the sun formed, what happened that allowed the planets to form and why are the planets a slightly different composition than the sun?"

Starting the 4-ton spacecraft on its five-year journey to the largest planet in the solar system is the job of a United Launch Alliance Atlas V equipped with five solid-fueled boosters. Even with that much power, Juno will still require a flyby of Earth to get up enough energy to swing out to Jupiter.

More: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/juno/launch/Juno_launchpreview.html

Juno Jupiter Mission to Carry Plaque Dedicated to Galileo

A plaque dedicated to the famous astronomer Galileo Galilei will be carried to Jupiter aboard NASA's Juno spacecraft. The launch period for Juno opens Aug. 5, 2011, and extends through Aug. 26. For an Aug. 5 liftoff, the launch window opens at 8:34 a.m. PDT (11:34 a.m. EDT) and remains open through 9:43 a.m. PDT (12:43 p.m. EDT).

Among his many achievements, Galileo Galilei discovered that moons orbited Jupiter in 1610. These satellites -- Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto -- are also known as the Galilean moons.

More: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/juno/news/galileo20110803.html

Juno Spacecraft to Carry Three Figurines to Jupiter Orbit

NASA's Jupiter-bound Juno spacecraft will carry the 1.5-inch likeness of Galileo Galilei, the Roman god Jupiter and his wife Juno to Jupiter when the spacecraft launches this Friday, Aug. 5. The inclusion of the three mini-statues, or figurines, is part of a joint outreach and educational program developed as part of the partnership between NASA and the LEGO Group to inspire children to explore science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

More: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/juno/news/lego20110803.html

[Rick]

Juno Lifts Off

NASA's Juno spacecraft, headed to Jupiter, has lifted off from Cape Canaveral, Fla. aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket.

On Friday, Aug. 5, the launch window for NASA's Jupiter-bound Juno mission opens at 8:34 a.m. PDT (11:34 a.m. EDT) and extends through 9:43 a.m. PDT (12:43 p.m. EDT) at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. The satellite observatory is nestled inside the top of a United Launch Alliance Atlas V 551 rocket, the most powerful Atlas rocket in NASA's inventory.

More: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/juno/news/juno20110804.html

Main mission page: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/juno/main/index.html

[Rick]

...and today's APOD is a video of the launch: http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap110809.html

[Carole]

I love the camera mounted on the spacecraft looking back at Earth.

Carole

[Rick]

Jupiter-Bound Space Probe 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.

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.

More: http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.cfm?release=2011-271

[mickw]

It's quite amazing that it's averaging 2 million miles a week 

[Mac]

but whats its MPG?

[mickw]

 

[Rick]

NASA's Juno is Halfway to Jupiter

NASA's Juno spacecraft is halfway to Jupiter. The Jovian-system-bound spacecraft reached the milestone today (8/12/13) at 5:25 a.m. PDT (8:25 a.m. EDT/12:25 UTC).

"Juno's odometer just clicked over to 9.464 astronomical units," said Juno Principal Investigator Scott Bolton, of the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio. "The team is looking forward, preparing for the day we enter orbit around the most massive planet in our solar system."

More: http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?release=2013-246

[Rick]

[BAA-ebulletin 00765] Juno flyby tonight
(c) 2013 British Astronomical Association    http://www.britastro.org/

Juno flyby tonight

The Juno spacecraft, en route to Jupiter, will be performing a slingshot flyby of Earth tonight, Oct.9/10, and will be well positioned for observation from Europe on its outbound trajectory.  Juno passes closest approach in shadow at an altitude of only 558  km over the southern tip of Africa at 19:21 UT, then it leaves eclipse at 19:39 UT, and will be in view from Europe and Asia as it departs.  It will be faint and rapidly moving, fading from possibly mag.10 around 20h UT to  mag.>13 after midnight as it recedes.  However, expert observers may be able to locate it.  Go to Heavens Above ( http://www.heavens-above.com/ ) for customized predictions, or to JPL HORIZONS ( http://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/?horizons ) for an ephemeris.

Preston Dyches of the Juno outreach team says:  "We are interested in receiving any images or video to potentially share via Juno's web and social media (when the US gov't shutdown ends, of course)."  Folks may email images to juno_outreach at jpl.nasa.gov.

John H. Rogers, Ph.D.
Jupiter Section Director,
British Astronomical Association.
http://www.britastro.org/jupiter

[Rick]

There's another take on the close approach at http://missionjuno.swri.edu/hijuno/ ...

[Rick]

Juno spacecraft resumes full flight operations on its way to Jupiter

NASA's Juno spacecraft, which is on its way to Jupiter, resumed full flight operations earlier today. The spacecraft had entered safe mode during its flyby of Earth last Wednesday. The safe mode did not impact the spacecraft's trajectory one smidgeon. This flyby provided the necessary gravity boost to accurately slingshot the probe towards Jupiter, where it will arrive on July 4, 2016.

The spacecraft exited safe mode at 4:12 p.m. CDT (5:12 p.m. EDT) earlier today. The spacecraft is currently operating nominally and all systems are fully functional.

On Oct. 9, Juno past within 350 miles of the ocean just off the tip of South Africa at 3:21 p.m. EDT (12:21 PDT / 19:21 UTC). Soon after closest approach, a signal was received by the European Space Agency's 15-meter antenna just north of Perth, Australia, indicating the spacecraft initiated an automated fault-protection action called "safe mode."

More: http://www.swri.org/9what/releases/2013/junocraft.htm

[Rick]

NASA's Juno Gives Starship-Like View of Earth Flyby

When NASA's Juno spacecraft flew past Earth on Oct. 9, 2013, it received a boost in speed of more than 8,800 mph (about 7.3 kilometer per second), which set it on course for a July 4, 2016, rendezvous with Jupiter, the largest planet in our solar system. One of Juno's sensors, a special kind of camera optimized to track faint stars, also had a unique view of the Earth-moon system. The result was an intriguing, low-resolution glimpse of what our world would look like to a visitor from afar.

More: http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?release=2013-360

[Rick]

With One Year to Jupiter, NASA's Juno Team Prepares

With just one year remaining in a five-year trek to Jupiter, the team of NASA's Juno mission is hard at work preparing for the spacecraft's expedition to the solar system's largest planet. The mission aims to reveal the story of Jupiter's formation and details of its interior structure. Data from Juno will provide insights about our solar system's beginnings, and what we learn from the mission will also enrich scientists' understanding of giant planets around other stars.

Juno is scheduled to arrive at Jupiter on July 4, 2016 (Pacific Daylight Time). Once it settles into orbit, the spacecraft will brave the hazards of Jupiter's intense radiation when it repeatedly approaches within a few thousand miles, or kilometers, of the cloud tops to collect its data.

More: http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=4648