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NASA’s solar-powered Juno spacecraft, launched nearly five years ago, is set for a rendezvous with Jupiter, when it enters the orbit of the most massive planet in our solar system tomorrow.
The spacecraft will complete a burn of its main engine, placing it in orbit around the king of planets, NASA said.
During its mission of exploration, Juno will circle the Jovian world 37 times, soaring low over the planet’s cloud tops — as close as about 4,100 kilometres.
Juno will probe beneath the obscuring cloud cover of Jupiter and study its auroras to learn more about the planet’s origins, structure, atmosphere and magnetosphere.
During Juno’s orbit-insertion phase the spacecraft will perform a series of steps in preparation for a main engine burn that will guide it into orbit.
The burn will impart a mean change in velocity of 542 metres per second on the spacecraft.
It is performed in view of Earth, allowing its progress to be monitored by the mission teams at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Lockheed Martin Space Systems in the US, via signal reception by Deep Space Network antennas in California and Australia.
After the main engine burn, Juno will be in orbit around Jupiter. The spacecraft will spin down from 5 to 2 revolutions per minute (RPM), turn back towards the Sun, and ultimately transmit telemetry via its high-gain antenna.
Juno starts its tour of Jupiter in a 53.5-day orbit. The spacecraft saves fuel by executing a burn that places it in a capture orbit instead of going directly for the 14-day orbit that will occur during the mission’s primary science collection period.
The 14-day orbit phase will begin after the final burn of the mission for Juno’s main engine on October 19. “We are ready. As Juno barrels down on Jupiter, the scientists are busy looking at the amazing approach science the spacecraft has already returned to Earth,” said Scott Bolton, principal investigator of Juno from the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio.
“Jupiter is spectacular from afar and will be absolutely breathtaking from close up,” said Bolton.
Juno’s name comes from Greek and Roman mythology. The mythical god Jupiter drew a veil of clouds around himself to hide his mischief, and his wife — the goddess Juno — was able to peer through the clouds and unveil Jupiter’s true nature.
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