NASA’s Juno spacecraft entered orbit around Jupiter Monday after its five-year flight in space. Because of the communication time lag between Jupiter and Earth, Juno was on autopilot when it executed the tricky move. Plus, Juno is in a highly elliptical 53-day orbit around Jupiter, where it only spends a few hours super close to the planet. “We prepared a contingency communications procedure”, he said, just in case the engine didn’t fire and the mission was a failure.
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Scott Bolton, head scientist of the mission, said: “NASA did it again, that says it all to me”. At that point, the instruments will be turned on so it can collect data. In late August, the spacecraft swings back around Jupiter for its first close-in view.
Jupiter is the solar system’s largest planet, more than two-and-a-half times as massive as all of the other planets combined.
In the weeks leading up to the encounter, Juno snapped pictures of the giant planet and its four inner moons dancing around it. Scientists were surprised to see Jupiter’s second-largest moon, Callisto, appearing dimmer than expected.
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.
Juno is the first spacecraft to ever come this close to Jupiter, and that comes with a lot of hazards. He added, “It’s getting very real”.
Juno, Collins noted, is named for the Roman goddess and wife of Jupiter. Those particles could wreak havoc with Juno’s electronics. My solar panels now face the sun.
But they were also celebrating at Westcott Venture Park near Aylesbury, base of Moog-ISP, the company that built the brake engine that put the spacecraft into orbit.
A Twitter account for the mission let the world know that the spacecraft had made it successfully, saying, “I’m ready to unlock all your secrets Jupiter”. It is thought that the structure and its chemistry could reveal information as to how the gas giant formed around 4.5 billion years ago. Bolton says the spacecraft’s 60 square meters (more than 650 square feet) of solar arrays produce 500 watts of power.
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When it launched in 2011, the spacecraft was packed with a tiny version of Roman god Jupiter, after which the huge planet is named, along with a figure of his wife Juno and 17th century astronomer Galileo Galilei.
