Juno (spacecraft)
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Juno
Juno Transparent.png
Artist's rendering of the Juno spacecraft
Mission type Jupiter orbiter
Operator NASA / JPL
COSPAR ID 2011-040A
SATCAT № 37773
Website
nasa.gov/juno (NASA)
missionjuno.swri.edu (SwRI)
Mission duration 6 years total
Cruise: 5 years
Science phase: 20 months
Spacecraft properties
Manufacturer Lockheed Martin
BOL mass 3,625 kg (7,992 lb)[1]
Power solar, 400 W at Jupiter;
two 55-ampere-hour lithium-ion batteries[2]
Start of mission
Launch date August 5, 2011 16:25:00 UTC
(4 years, 11 months and 16 days ago)
Rocket Atlas V 551 (AV-029)
Launch site Cape Canaveral SLC-41
Contractor United Launch Alliance
Orbital parameters
Reference system Zenocentric
Regime Polar orbit[3]
Inclination 90 degrees
Period 53 days
[show]Instruments
Juno mission insignia.svg
Juno mission insignia
New Frontiers program
← New Horizons OSIRIS-REx →
Wikinews has related news: NASA's Juno spacecraft enters Jupiter orbit
Juno is a NASA space probe orbiting the planet Jupiter after entering orbit on 11:53pm EDST,[4] July 4th, 2016; the prelude to 20 months[5] of scientific data collection to be followed by a planned deorbit.[5] It was launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on August 5, 2011, as part of the New Frontiers program,[6] and ranged into Jupiter's orbit on July 4, 2016.[4][7]
Juno's maneuver on 4 July has put it into a polar orbit to study Jupiter's composition, gravity field, magnetic field, and polar magnetosphere. Juno will also search for clues about how the planet formed, including whether it has a rocky core, the amount of water present within the deep atmosphere, mass distribution, and its deep winds, which can reach speeds of 618 kilometers per hour (384 mph).[8]
Juno is only the second spacecraft to orbit Jupiter and the first solar powered craft to do so, following behind the nuclear powered Galileo probe, which orbited from 1995 to 2003.[5]
Unlike all the earlier nuclear powered spacecraft to the outer planets,[5] the Juno spacecraft is powered only by solar arrays, commonly used by satellites orbiting Earth and working in the inner Solar System, whereas radioisotope thermoelectric generators are commonly used for missions to the outer Solar System and beyond. For Juno, however, three solar array wings, the largest ever deployed on a planetary probe, play an integral role in stabilizing the spacecraft as well as generating power.[9]
“ The spacecraft's name comes from Greco-Roman mythology. The god Jupiter drew a veil of clouds around himself to hide his mischief, but his wife, the goddess Juno, was able to peer through the clouds and see Jupiter's true nature. ”
— NASA mission pages[10]
The mission had previously been referred to by the backronym JUpiter Near-polar Orbiter in a list of NASA acronyms.[11]
Contents [hide]
1 Overview
1.1 Flight trajectory
1.1.1 Launch
1.1.2 Earth fly-by
1.1.3 Insertion into Jupiter's orbit
1.1.4 Orbit and environment
1.1.5 Deorbit and disintegration
1.2 Team
1.3 Cost
1.4 Scientific objectives
2 Scientific instruments
3 Operational components
3.1 Solar panels
3.2 Telecommunications
3.3 Propulsion
4 Galileo plaque and Lego minifigures
5 Timeline
6 See also
7 References
8 External links
Overview[edit]
Juno's interplanetary trajectory; tick marks at 30-day intervals.
File:Juno spacecraft trajectory animation.webm
Juno spacecraft trajectory animation
Juno completed a five-year cruise to Jupiter, arriving on July 4, 2016.[7] The spacecraft traveled over a total distance of roughly 2.8 billion kilometers (18.7 AU; 1.74 billion miles) to reach Jupiter.[12] The spacecraft will orbit Jupiter 37 times over the course of 20 months.[4][13] Juno's trajectory used a gravity assist speed boost from Earth, accomplished through an Earth flyby in October 2013, two years after its launch on August 5, 2011.[14] On July 5, 2016, the spacecraft performed an orbit insertion burn to slow it enough to allow capture. It will make two 53-day orbits before performing another burn on October 19 that will bring it into a 14-day polar orbit.
Once in the 14-day orbit, infrared and microwave instruments will begin to measure the thermal radiation emanating from deep within Jupiter's atmosphere. These observations will complement previous studies of its composition by assessing the abundance and distribution of water, and therefore oxygen. This data will provide insight into Jupiter's origins. Juno will also investigate the convection that drives general circulation patterns in Jupiter's atmosphere. Other instruments aboard Juno will gather data about its gravitational field and polar magnetosphere. The Juno mission is set to conclude in February 2018, after completing 37 orbits of Jupiter, when the probe will be de-orbited to burn up in Jupiter's outer atmosphere,[4][13] so as to avoid any possibility of impact and biological contamination of one