NASA Probe to Explore Jupiter
August 4, 2011—NASA's Juno spacecraft is headed on a five-year journey to the solar system's largest planet, Jupiter. Along the way, the probe will use Earth to "slingshot" itself toward the gas giant planet.
Transcript
Even though NASA’s human space flight program has been cut back, its unmanned programs are forging ahead.
This month, NASA is launching the Juno spacecraft aboard an Atlas Five rocket, headed to the solar system’s largest planet- Jupiter.
For the most part Jupiter remains a mystery.
SOUNDBITE: Steve Matousek, Juno Proposal Mgr., NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory
“When I first started working on Juno, it blew me away that we knew so little about the biggest planet in the solar system. For example, we don’t know what the core is made out of. Why is the magnetic field so large, and so powerful? And how far down do the clouds go?”
“When we fly by close on Juno and start getting that science data back, we’ll be able to answer those questions.”
To get to Jupiter, the Juno spacecraft will be fueled by solar power, and while on its orbit around the sun will get a push from earth.
SOUNDBITE: Jan Chodas, Juno Project Manager, NASA Jet Propulson Laboratory
“On the Juno mission, we initially launch from the earth, we fly out past the asteroid belts. We do a burn at that point, to bring ourselves back in towards the earth, and we use what we call a gravity assist , or kind of a slingshot of the earth’s gravity well to then propel us out towards Jupiter.”
It will take 5 years for Juno to reach the big planet, but once there, the spacecraft will orbit its poles 33 times. Its instruments will measure the amount of water and ammonia in the atmosphere, as well as map the atmosphere, auroras and interior.
Maybe by the end of 2016, scientists will have a better understanding of Jupiter’s now-unknown core, and the planet’s origin.
