NASA's Juno Spacecraft closes in on Jupiter
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Brokedownclimber

Trad climber
Douglas, WY
Topic Author's Original Post - Jun 20, 2016 - 12:32pm PT
In a Thursday, 6 June 2016 media briefing, NASA officials discussed the 4 July 2016 arrival of the Juno spacecraft, due for insertion into a polar orbit around the gas giant Planet. At the time of briefing, the probe was still 8.6 million miles and 18 days away from Jupiter.

The spacecraft, which is travelling at 130,000 miles per hour, it will initiate a 35 minute burn of it's main engine, slowing the vehicle by 542 meters per second in order for the planet to capture it into a polar orbit. All maneuvers will be computer controlled, since the robotic vehicle is now many light-minutes from Earth. It's a "one shot, no second chance" affair.

The goal of the mission is to study the structure below the clouds and the magnetic fields of the gas giant.



The space probe was launched August, 2011 aboard an United Launch Alliance Atlas V 551 variant. The probe is scheduled to orbit the planet until 2018, and will be de-orbited after completion of 37 orbits.
climbski2

Mountain climber
Anchorage AK, Reno NV
Jun 20, 2016 - 01:46pm PT
Why does it have a big bottle opener on one of it's solar panels?
crunch

Social climber
CO
Jun 20, 2016 - 01:59pm PT
Dramatic Juno video:


[Click to View YouTube Video]
looking sketchy there...

Social climber
Lassitude 33
Jun 20, 2016 - 09:27pm PT
So, are you going to be uploading your own images to possibly get the Junocam to take a picture?
Brokedownclimber

Trad climber
Douglas, WY
Topic Author's Reply - Jul 4, 2016 - 09:41pm PT
The Juno spacecraft has successfully entered into a 54 day polar orbit around Jupiter, as reported by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. This orbital insertion required a 35 minute burn of the spacecraft's engine, thus slowing the vehicle for orbital capture.
fear

Ice climber
hartford, ct
Jul 4, 2016 - 09:44pm PT
Glad to see the guys who were always better at math than me have put their skills to a positive use.
overwatch

climber
Arizona
Jul 4, 2016 - 10:25pm PT
It really is amazing hard to fathom that kind of speed and distance
perswig

climber
Jul 5, 2016 - 03:32am PT
Was listening to an interview about this. They're practicing LNT, after a fashion.

After the polar sequence, Juno is to de-orbit and crash/burn in Jupiter's atmospheric storms in part to avoid the possibility of contact with Europa. Potential for life under the ice there and since Juno is not a sterile probe, NASA is concerned about introducing non-native biologics (organics?) and affecting evolution.

Dale
looking sketchy there...

Social climber
Lassitude 33
Jul 5, 2016 - 07:56am PT
Juno should provide a wealth of information. Kind of OT post that is far more interesting than the typical ST political garbage.
Brokedownclimber

Trad climber
Douglas, WY
Topic Author's Reply - Jul 5, 2016 - 08:27am PT
I actually watched a live webcast which alternated between Lockheed-Martin's control room in Denver and the JPL headquarters in Pasadena. The Juno spacecraft is entirely solar powered for it's radios and scientific instruments. The distance covered in the course of it's 5 year flight is mind boggling. Transmissions from Juno take 42 minutes to be received by the Earthbound reception network, based on the speed of light of 300,000 Km per second, or in Imperial units, 186,000 miles per second.
Do the math: (300,0000X(60)X(42) = 756,000,000 kilometers, or 468,720,000 miles. That also computes to an average velocity of ~ 11,000 miles per hour. The actual distance the spacecraft travelled was much more, since the flight path was fairly complex and involved several planetary flybys to obtain gravitational assists. Juno also became the fastest manmade object ever, reaching speeds in excess of 140,000 miles per hour.
F

climber
away from the ground
Jul 5, 2016 - 10:28am PT
So these "scientists" can achieve a polar orbit of Jupiter with a solar powered satellite the size of a parking lot, but they can't figure out that AGW is a global conspiracy started by Al Gore?
Sh#t, Jody and Klimmer should be in charge of NASA. Just think how much REAL research would be accomplished then.
fear

Ice climber
hartford, ct
Jul 5, 2016 - 10:36am PT
The one that blew my mind was that asteroid they caught up to, synchronized with the erratic spin, and landed on.... just amazing.
bluering

Trad climber
Santa Clara, CA
Jul 5, 2016 - 10:43am PT
Juno should provide a wealth of information. Kind of OT post that is far more interesting than the typical ST political garbage.


Another small step, and another giant leap. And I don't say that facetiously.

After out lunar landing, we took a different direction in space exploration. One that kinda bummed me out as a Ray Bradbury/Heinlein/Asimov sci-fi fan.

We were supposed to get on Mars and see the 'Green Hills of Earth'. But, because of super-awesome technology we went the way of observations and probes. Why risk humans if we can probe it first?

The Mars missions involving rovers Spirit and Opportunity were launched in 2004. These were pure scientifc and engineering brilliance. I followed them closely.

Remember how they were inserted into the planet? They were in huge crash-bags that parachuted in and them free-fell and bounced around until coming to a resting point. Then they blew explosive charges and cut all tethers, and went on a scientific 'walkabout' for the 12 f*#king years!!! They measure rocks, take pictures, get environmental samples, etc...And relay all the data back to us through the MRO, an orbiting relay station. Rad!

They are still going after they were supposed to fail! Here is their twitter-feed;

Spirit and Oppy ‏@MarsRovers Jul 2

On July 4, @NASAJuno arrives at #Jupiter & spring arrives at #Mars. How spring helps Oppy: http://go.nasa.gov/29atE1n
109 retweets 225 likes
Spirit and Oppy ‏@MarsRovers Jun 15

VistaVision: Oppy wrapping science at Mars' "Marathon Valley"; may soon move to new targets http://go.nasa.gov/23ahCsk
185 retweets 395 likes
Spirit and Oppy ‏@MarsRovers May 27

Earth and #Mars are at their closest in 11 years on May 30. Red Planet viewing tips: http://mars.nasa.gov/allaboutmars/nightsky/mars-close-approach/ …
272 retweets 351 likes
Spirit and Oppy ‏@MarsRovers Apr 7

Couldn't do it without you. The Odyssey orbiter has relayed >90% of Spirit+Oppy's Mars data http://go.nasa.gov/1N7fPv4
110 retweets 256 likes
Spirit and Oppy Retweeted
NASA JPL ‏@NASAJPL Apr 4

ICYMI: @MarsRovers Opportunity tackled her steepest Martian slope yet—a whopping 62.5% grade http://go.nasa.gov/1Y2mnks
517 retweets 1,367 likes
Spirit and Oppy ‏@MarsRovers Apr 3

Martian Still Life: Opportunity rover tracks + dust devil, Endeavour Crater, Mars, sol 4332 http://go.nasa.gov/1V2AcRY
1,235 retweets 1,829 likes
Spirit and Oppy ‏@MarsRovers Mar 31

Shake it off! Opportunity attempts steepest climb. Drive tilt/vibration dusts solar array http://go.nasa.gov/1Y2mnks
321 retweets 745 likes
Spirit and Oppy Retweeted
ESA ‏@esa Mar 13

Everything you need to know about tomorrow’s #ExoMars launch here: http://www.esa.int/ExoMars
Got questions? #askESA
490 retweets 617 likes
Spirit and Oppy Retweeted
NASA JPL ‏@NASAJPL Mar 10

Magnificent Mars: MRO arrived at the Red Planet 10 years ago #OTD. https://youtu.be/bdHkgtLgcSY #JourneytoMars @HiRISE
781 retweets 1,022 likes
In reply to William Shatner
Spirit and Oppy ‏@MarsRovers Feb 27

.@WilliamShatner 50 percent more wheels and 62 percent less gravity: Whee!
45 retweets 172 likes
Spirit and Oppy Retweeted
William Shatner ‏@WilliamShatner Feb 26

Is it better than 4 wheeling?
61 retweets 184 likes
Spirit and Oppy ‏@MarsRovers Feb 25

Charge! Oppy's six-wheeling up a 30º Martian slope—some of her most challenging terrain ever http://go.nasa.gov/1LgpFz3
421 retweets 772 likes
Spirit and Oppy ‏@MarsRovers Jan 25

Better by the Dozen! Oppy landed in 2004, and is still at the science grind even in winter: http://go.nasa.gov/1PNUdEo

Still going.

These are all fantastic missions that are bringing us loads of data. NASA is awesome.

The data from Jupiter is going the blow the heads off of a bunch of NASA-nerds. Which is usually a pre-cursor to really wild stuff.

So awesome...
bluering

Trad climber
Santa Clara, CA
Jul 5, 2016 - 10:57am PT
The one that blew my mind was that asteroid they caught up to, synchronized with the erratic spin, and landed on.... just amazing.


Get out!!! That happened?? WTF???
fear

Ice climber
hartford, ct
Jul 5, 2016 - 12:46pm PT
The one that blew my mind was that asteroid they caught up to, synchronized with the erratic spin, and landed on.... just amazing.


Get out!!! That happened?? WTF???

They did indeed... And it took 10 YEARS to catch the thing.... crazy

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosetta_(spacecraft);
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