NASA's Juno, the spacecraft launched to probe Jupiter since five years ago, is about to accomplish the most crucial part of its mission. Juno is expected to reach the solar system's largest planet closer than ever before on July 4 and it's going to bring great value to mankind.
As America celebrates Independence Day with fireworks, further up in the sky, Juno will be able to facilitate deeper examination of Jupiter. Juno will risk comets, space dust and rocks, radiation and electrons as it nears the planet's atmosphere, per Space. When it successfully gathers the necessary data, the big, strange and previously unknown planet will soon become familiar to us.
NASA's Juno Mission Is Groundbreaking
Juno's mission sets new records and achievements for NASA as the spacecraft is running and operating using solar power. With the planet farther from the Sun compared to the Earth, it's actually harder for sunlight to reach it. But NASA has designed the spacecraft so efficiently that the solar power has indeed sustain the mission. Previous space probes to Jupiter functioned with nuclear power, per NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
.@NASAJuno arrives at #Jupiter July 4 to unravel the planet's mysteries, including the origin of its magnetosphere.https://t.co/qJaYOkjlxL
— NASA (@NASA) June 29, 2016
The Significance Of NASA's Juno Mission
When Juno gets close to Jupiter on July 4, it is NASA's hope that the spacecraft will be able to take more detailed photos of the planet. Because Jupiter is a mostly gaseous, Juno's mission might finally answer what lies beneath all the gas.
Juno will attempt to discover if Jupiter has a solid core. It will also measure the atmospheric, magnetic and gravity conditions. NASA will use the data to study the planet's evolution and composition, per Outer Places. In turn, the data coming from Jupiter will also help the space agency learn more about our solar system. It might also shed light on the origins of our own planet.
NASA's Juno Mission Fast Facts:
Jupiter
- The planet is 11 times bigger than Earth's diameter.
- A day in Jupiter is about 10 hours on Earth.
- It takes 12 years for Jupiter to orbit the sun.
- It has at least 60 small moons and four big moons that are almost the sizes of other planets.
Juno
- The spacecraft is named after the Roman goddess, the wife of Jupiter.
- It traveled 2.8 billion kilometers to reach the largest planet.
- It is made up of titanium walls to protect it from Jupiter's radiation.
- The data it captures from Jupiter will be transmitted to Earth with a 48-minute delay.
