Juno is a NASA New Frontiers mission currently orbiting the planet Jupiter.
Juno was launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on August 5, 2011 and
arrived on July 5, 2016.
Here is all you need to know about Juno.
Quick Facts about Juno:
· Juno, will be orbiting the planet 37 times over the next 20 months, with the hopes that it will collect data and images that will offer clues to the origins of our solar system and the formation of the planets and moons.
· It took five years to get to Jupiter, and the mission costs $1.1 billion.
· Juno will be in an orbit passing over Jupiter’s poles, providing a first close look at those regions.
· The major missions of the Juno scientists will be to find water on Jupiter.
· The first two highly elliptical orbits will be 53 days in duration, lasting until mid-October.
· Then Juno will fire its engine again on Oct. 19 to move to a 14-day orbit when the science measurements begin in earnest. Three 30-foot solar panels provide a mere 500 watts to power Juno and its instruments. On Nov. 3, people will be able to start voting on where Juno should point its camera.
· On the 37th orbit, on Feb. 20, 2018, Juno is to make a suicidal dive into Jupiter, ending the mission, the same way the Galileo spacecraft was disposed in 2003. That is to ensure there is no possibility that Juno would crash into Europa and contaminate it with microbial hitchhikers from Earth. Europa is regarded as one of the most likely places in the solar system to look for life.
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