NASA's Juno spacecraft poised for attempt to orbit Jupiter

Started by Cocoa Beware, July 04, 2016, 06:01:26 PM

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Cocoa Beware

NASA's Juno spacecraft poised for attempt to orbit Jupiter

http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/juno-jupiter-1.3663200

A solar-powered spacecraft is spinning toward Jupiter for the closest encounter with the biggest planet in our solar system.

NASA's Juno spacecraft fires its main rocket engine late Monday to slow itself down from a speed of 250,000 kilometres per hour and slip into orbit around Jupiter.

With Juno on autopilot, the delicately choreographed move comes without any help from ground controllers.

Confirmation of whether Juno, the only solar-powered spacecraft ever dispatched to the outer solar system, had successfully placed itself into polar orbit around Jupiter was not expected until 11:53 p.m. ET (New York time)

CBCNews.ca will carry a NASA livestream of the event starting 10:30 p.m. ET.

Launched from Florida nearly five years ago, Juno must be precisely positioned, ignite its main engine at exactly the right time and keep it burning for 35 minutes to shed enough speed so it can be captured by Jupiter's gravity.

"This is really the most up close and personal we've ever been with Jupiter," Michelle Thaller, assistant director of science communications at NASA Goddard Space Flight Centre, said in an interview with CBC News.

The spacecraft is travelling through a hostile radiation environment and rings of debris and dust, "making for very serious hazards," Juno chief scientist Scott Bolton said during a morning briefing. But Juno should be able to withstand the harsh conditions because it's "built like an armoured tank," he said.

Thaller said, "We are actually diving the spacecraft underneath the radiation belt and coming out the other side, so that has to work just right."



Juno's camera and other instruments were switched off for the arrival so there won't be any pictures at the moment the spacecraft reaches its destination. Scientists have promised close-up views of Jupiter when Juno skims the cloud tops during the 20-month mission :cheer: But NASA released a series of images taken last week during the approach, showing Jupiter glowing yellow in the distance, circled by its four inner moons:



Juno's mission: To peer through Jupiter's cloud-socked atmosphere and map the interior from a unique vantage point above the poles. Among the lingering questions: How much water exists? Is there a solid core? Why are Jupiter's southern and northern lights the brightest in the solar system?

What Juno's about is looking beneath that surface," Bolton said. "We've got to go down and look at what's inside, see how it's built, how deep these features go, learn about its real secrets."

There's also the mystery of its Great Red Spot. Recent observations by the Hubble Space Telescope revealed the centuries-old monster storm in Jupiter's atmosphere is shrinking.

Juno will enter into this highly elliptical polar orbit and complete it 36 times before burning up in Jupiter's atmosphere in 2018:


SGOS

This is kind of a big deal.  I'm not sure where this will take us.  We will certainly expand our knowledge base, but I have no idea to what end.  It's still exciting.  We put a fucking satellite in orbit around a planet that is 540 million miles away.  Take that Copernicus, you wuss!

stromboli

No sweat. It's in the bible. You just got to look harder.....

Atheon

But teh bibble sez humen cant send spaceships to teh planet Juniper! Only GOD can! Sez so in teh bibble! Somthing bout van allen belts and radiashun. You see, if humen caem from munkys, then WHARE DID MUNKYS COM FROM? Checkmate, aethesit geniouses! Better prey to JEBUS!
"Religion is regarded by the common people as true, by the wise as false, and by the rulers as useful." - Seneca

Unbeliever

Quote from: stromboli on July 05, 2016, 08:53:15 AM
No sweat. It's in the bible. You just got to look harder.....
I looked real hard! I did, but the Wholly Spook wouldn't give me the gift of understanding! I guess I have to become a fool to become wise, like the Book says, huh?

:headscratch:
God Not Found
"There is a sucker born-again every minute." - C. Spellman

PopeyesPappy

Save a life. Adopt a Greyhound.

SGOS


Baruch

One of my groomsmen at my wedding, worked on the Galileo spacecraft, that went to Jupiter.  What did we find out?  That it is a terrible place for a vacation, and they don't take American Express card ;-)
Ha’át’íísh baa naniná?
Azee’ Å,a’ish nanídį́į́h?
Táadoo ánít’iní.
What are you doing?
Are you taking any medications?
Don't do that.

Cocoa Beware

#8
Some close range pictures of Jupiter, an infrared image of a Jupiter based Aurora, and apparently Jupiter is still making silly noises (converted from electromagnetic radiation)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ThZMVzpSp30





The Jovian Infrared Auroral Mapper (JIRAM) maps Jupiter. Above Jupiter you can see Io on the initial scan.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i9TtSCkoERw

JIRAM is a kind of spectrometer, collecting information about the composition of Jupiter's atmosphere:

The primary goal of JIRAM is to probe the upper layers of Jupiter's atmosphere down to pressures of 5â€"7 bars (72â€"102 pound/square inch) at infrared wavelengths in the 2â€"5 μm interval using an imager and a spectrometer. Jupiter's "hot spots" and auroral regions are targeted for study.

It is hoped H+3 ions, ammonia, and phosphine can be mapped.

The ion of Hydrogen H+3 is rare on Earth, but is one of the most common ions in the universe and known as protonated molecular hydrogen or the trihydrogen cation.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jovian_Infrared_Auroral_Mapper

One of the things I love about this mission is that the instruments are based on such simple ideas like the doppler effect, yet the application is so clever, allowing scientists to sift through the massive bulk of Jupiter to pick out specific details.




The Skeletal Atheist

Some people need to be beaten with a smart stick.

Kein Mehrheit Fur Die Mitleid!

Kein Mitlied F�r Die Mehrheit!

Gawdzilla Sama

Jupiter: God of gods.
Jupiter's moon: His lovers.
Juno: Jupiter's wife.

NASA, yer a right bastid, ye!
We 'new atheists' have a reputation for being militant, but make no mistake  we didn't start this war. If you want to place blame put it on the the religious zealots who have been poisoning the minds of the  young for a long long time."
PZ Myers

Baruch

Quote from: Unbeliever on July 06, 2016, 05:05:11 PM
I looked real hard! I did, but the Wholly Spook wouldn't give me the gift of understanding! I guess I have to become a fool to become wise, like the Book says, huh?

:headscratch:

Not any fool, only a holy fool ;-)
Ha’át’íísh baa naniná?
Azee’ Å,a’ish nanídį́į́h?
Táadoo ánít’iní.
What are you doing?
Are you taking any medications?
Don't do that.

Cocoa Beware

#12
Here is a very cool picture. A processed image of Jupiter's south pole. I recommend taking a look at the full size (click the bar and then click the zoom) Also, works great as a desktop image (at least in my case):



I imagine all of those storms are comparable to Earth in terms in size. Reminds me of a giant bubble.

Also look at Saturn's southern polar region, it's a different story here.


Baruch

Ha’át’íísh baa naniná?
Azee’ Å,a’ish nanídį́į́h?
Táadoo ánít’iní.
What are you doing?
Are you taking any medications?
Don't do that.