Juno, launched in August 2011, will complete its journey to the solar system’s largest planet after travelling more than 2.8 billion kilometres over nearly five years. Jupiter’s magnetosphere is the largest structure in the universe – five times the distance between the Earth and sun, according to JPL.
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Despite Juno being able to slip into orbit, however, it would not start its actual mission until late August, when it is set to close in on Jupiter.
Bringing viewers to the heart of the action, “Mission Jupiter” offers unprecedented access to the NASA mission led by Principal Investigator Dr. Scott Bolton as the team faces incredible challenges and the Juno spacecraft approaches its destination.
“The mission team did great”. The engine stayed on for 35 minutes and managed to fit itself in the exact orbit which the managers of NASA had intended for.
Over the next 20 months, Juno will collect data on the moisture content in Juno’s atmosphere as well as the planet’s gravity and magnetic field.
The video is made up of images Juno took with its JunoCam between June 12 and June 19, as the spacecraft drew nearer to the giant planet from10 million to 3 million miles, NASA officials said. NASA’s Juno spacecraft will fire its main rocket engine late Monday to slow itself down from a speed of 150,000 miles per hour (250,000 kph) and slip into orbit around Jupiter. If all goes well we’re going to learn a lot about the giant gas planet.
“Independence Day always is something to celebrate, but today we can add to America’s birthday another reason to cheer-Juno is at Jupiter”, NASA administrator Charles Bolden said in a press release.
Wired explained that heading to the giant planet’s orbit also means being exposed to intense radiation, which is why Juno has its most sensitive bits contained in a titanium vault.
During this primary phase of the mission, Juno will undergo testing on Juno´s subsystems and adjustment of some science instruments, along with minimum science data compilation.
The four largest moons of Jupiter are named the Galilean moons because they were discovered by Galileo Galilei in 1609. The craft has become the first probe to enter Jupiter’s orbit since the space agency’s Galileo mission in 1995.
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Juno’s instruments will measure the surface storms, the planet’s gravitational pull, and search for clues of remnant water sources.
