Mission Jupiter By NASA - JUNO

Juno is a mission to the grandest planet of the solar system Jupiter. Similarly, launched in August 2011 from Cape Canaveral. The time-line of this mission is short as compared to other projects executed by NASA. The spacecraft will be inserting itself into the orbit of Jupiter on 4th July, 2016 . The mission is active since five years. It is on its path to reach the orbit of Jupiter. The mission and it’s every step is under close monitoring and evaluation. The mission is involving the inputs of amateurs and several telescopes. The overall cost of mission is USD 1.1 billion.

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Crux of the Mission

The crux of the mission is to unleash the existence of solar system. Quite mysterious information can be discovered by the study of this planet. JUNO will help in tracing the overall material that we all evolved from. As of now Juno is 18 days which approximately is 8.6 million miles away from Jupiter.

Leap Forward

Moreover, NASA will be flying its solar-powered spacecraft, which has the size of basketball court. However, it is 2900 miles and is carrying 20,000 individual solar cells. Again this will help to power it during its journey to reach solar system’s largest planet.

Watch 360 degree view of the mission by NASA

JUNO the fastest object ever made

Juno is probably the first spacecraft to reach closer to Jupiter. Eventually, it will help in unlocking the secrets hidden inside the grand planet. Nasa’s Juno spacecraft is clocking with speeds of over 160,000 mph. JUNO getting this much close to Jupiter is a costlier affair. Indeed it is coming with a huge price particularly increasing every time. Everytime the engine will fire the consecutive cost keeps on increasing.

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JUNO Interior

The payload consists of nine instruments.The spectrometer is working in the infrared region. JUNO is using a bipropellant engine. It consists of twelve small thrusters. It is about to orbit around Jupiter 37 times.

Entering the Orbit

The orbit will allow Juno to survive long enough. It is about to obtain the alluring scientific data which the NASA has been striving for since long. Juno will seek these answers with instruments that will sense the hidden world beneath Jupiter’s colourful clouds and other experiments will investigate the external effects that world produces. July 4 is the day for the ongoing mission to take a leap forward. Eventually, Juno will be firing its main engine for 35 minutes. This is a huge event to witness.

Construction of Juno Spacecraft

Indeed, Juno is fabricated to avoid the destructive effect of radiations that will be reduced to a large extent. The armor is present in Juno made of titanium. Eventually, In the core of the spacecraft lays its electronic chips and instruments. It is almost 400 pounds. Spacecraft is encrusted with over 100 million dental x-rays.

Orbit Design

The orbit is designed in such a manner so that it won’t be exposed to such harsh radiation. Furthermore, protection from radiations is inevitable to save the spacecraft. Again, it is this spacecraft which is going to carry landmark information. However, the spacecraft is free from limitations affecting telescopes.

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NASA targets to achieve through this mission are:

To study the water abundance in this planet.
The nature of the magnetic field.
The gravitational field of the planet.
The truth evolving the formation of Jupiter.
To capture images using technique called ‘Lucky imaging’.
To identify Jovian Radio emissions.
To determine the ratio of oxygen to Hydrogen.

Furthermore, NASA’s orbital design for the spacecraft closely resembles to flattened oval. Eventually, the design of the trajectory path is calculated in a convenient manner. Indeed, the trajectory is being directed towards North Pole. it will race towards South Pole.

However, to gauge these facts from this exploratory mission is the crux. JUNO is one of a kind in this domain. It probes answers to various questions and substantiating various theories.

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