Topic: Juno Spacecraft's July 4 Jupiter Arrival: What to Expect
+Syntax — 10 years ago #45,111
NASA's Juno spacecraft is scheduled to enter into orbit around Jupiter Monday night (July 4), ending its nearly five-year trek to the solar system's biggest planet.
The key event Monday is a 35-minute engine burn at 11:18 p.m. EDT (0318 GMT on Tuesday), which is designed to slow Juno down enough to be captured by Jupiter's powerful gravity.
If something goes seriously wrong with this burn, the solar-powered Juno will zoom right past the gas giant, and the science goals of the $1.1 billion mission — which include mapping the gravitational and magnetic fields of Jupiter, and characterizing its internal structure — will go unachieved.
The key event Monday is a 35-minute engine burn at 11:18 p.m. EDT (0318 GMT on Tuesday), which is designed to slow Juno down enough to be captured by Jupiter's powerful gravity.
If something goes seriously wrong with this burn, the solar-powered Juno will zoom right past the gas giant, and the science goals of the $1.1 billion mission — which include mapping the gravitational and magnetic fields of Jupiter, and characterizing its internal structure — will go unachieved.
Juno's nine science instruments were switched off last week in the lead-up to Jupiter arrival. Mission team members will begin turning them back on about 50 hours after orbital insertion, NASA officials have said.
These instruments will be calibrated and then used to study Jupiter over the next three months, but Juno won't be ready to begin its official science mission until it performs one last engine burn on Oct. 19. If all goes according to plan, this 22-minute maneuver will shift Juno into a highly elliptical, 14-day orbit around Jupiter.
The spacecraft will then observe the huge planet over the course of more than 30 orbits, gathering data that scientists hope will shed light on how, when and where in the solar system Jupiter formed.
Juno is scheduled to end its life with an intentional death dive into Jupiter's atmosphere in February 2018 — a maneuver designed to ensure that the spacecraft doesn't contaminate the potentially life-hosting Jovian moon Europa with any Earth microbes.
These instruments will be calibrated and then used to study Jupiter over the next three months, but Juno won't be ready to begin its official science mission until it performs one last engine burn on Oct. 19. If all goes according to plan, this 22-minute maneuver will shift Juno into a highly elliptical, 14-day orbit around Jupiter.
The spacecraft will then observe the huge planet over the course of more than 30 orbits, gathering data that scientists hope will shed light on how, when and where in the solar system Jupiter formed.
Juno is scheduled to end its life with an intentional death dive into Jupiter's atmosphere in February 2018 — a maneuver designed to ensure that the spacecraft doesn't contaminate the potentially life-hosting Jovian moon Europa with any Earth microbes.
http://www.space.com/33333-juno-spacecraft-jupiter-arrival-timeline.html
+FuckAlms !vX8K53rFBI — 10 years ago, 2 hours later[T] [B] #493,657
But, what if Jupiter supports some form of non-oxygen-dependent life? What if our microbes kill them?
+Anti !M6R0eWkIpk — 10 years ago, 2 days later, 2 days after the original post[T] [B] #493,795
Sorry, the DPRK already reported that it was a huge failure, bud. Thankfully we still have NADA.
P.S. Meet me at the Russian embassy in D.C. to discuss the other matter further.
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