# NASA's Juno Launches to Jupiter



## Drone (Aug 8, 2011)

> PASADENA, Calif. -- NASA's solar-powered Juno spacecraft lifted off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida at 9:25 a.m. PDT (12:25 p.m. EDT) Friday to begin a five-year journey to Jupiter. Juno's detailed study of the largest planet in our solar system will help reveal Jupiter's origin and evolution. As the archetype of giant gas planets, Jupiter can help scientists understand the origin of our solar system and learn more about planetary systems around other stars.









> Juno will cover the distance from Earth to the moon in less than one day's time. It will take another *five years* to complete the journey to Jupiter. The spacecraft will orbit the planet's poles 33 times and use its collection of eight science instruments to probe beneath the gas giant's obscuring cloud cover to learn more about its origins, structure, atmosphere and magnetosphere, and look for a potential solid planetary core.
> 
> With four large moons and many smaller moons, Jupiter forms its own miniature solar system. Its composition resembles that of a star, and if it had been about 80 times more massive, the planet could have become a star instead.



Wow 5 years!



> "Jupiter is the Rosetta Stone of our solar system," said Scott Bolton, Juno's principal investigator from the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio. "It is by far the oldest planet, contains more material than all the other planets, asteroids and comets combined, and carries deep inside it the story of not only the solar system but of us. Juno is going there as our emissary -- to interpret what Jupiter has to say."



http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/juno/main/index.html

Engineers have received communications from the Juno spacecraft, and its solar arrays have deployed.


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## Drone (May 27, 2016)

Lolwut?! I created this thread 5 years ago  No, it can't be! And it's almost time!!!

NASA's Juno Spacecraft Crosses Jupiter/Sun Gravitational Boundary


Since its launch 5 years ago, there have been three forces tugging at NASA's Juno spacecraft as it speeds through the solar system. The sun, Earth and Jupiter have all been influential - a gravitational trifecta of sorts. At times, Earth was close enough to be the frontrunner. More recently, the sun has had the most clout when it comes to Juno's trajectory. Today, it can be reported that Jupiter is now in the gravitational driver’s seat, and the basketball court-sized spacecraft is not looking back.






"Today the gravitational influence of Jupiter is neck and neck with that of the Sun," said Rick Nybakken, Juno project manager at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. "As of tomorrow, and for the rest of the mission, we project Jupiter's gravity will dominate as the trajectory-perturbing effects by other celestial bodies are reduced to insignificant roles."

Juno was launched on Aug. 5, 2011. On July 4 of this year, it will perform a Jupiter orbit insertion maneuver - a 35-minute burn of its main engine, which will impart a mean change in velocity of 542 m/s on the spacecraft. Once in orbit, the spacecraft will circle the Jovian world 37 times, skimming to within 5000 km above the planet's cloud tops. During the flybys, Juno will probe beneath the obscuring cloud cover of Jupiter and study its aurorae to learn more about the planet's origins, structure, atmosphere and magnetosphere.

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 reveal Jupiter's true nature.


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## R-T-B (May 27, 2016)

I can't decide which is more of a throwback...  the fact that the probe launched 5 years ago (holy shit it seems like yesterday I read about it) or that Bill Nye youtube.

I used to love Bill Nye.  He's a legit science man, bro:


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## Drone (Jun 8, 2016)




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## Drone (Jun 9, 2016)

Juno Mission overview: Unlocking Jupiter's Mysteries

It's an old video (2011) but I haven't seen it:










And here's a new episode with Nye


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## Niteblooded (Jun 21, 2016)

This is the mission that excites me.   Been fascinated with Jupiter since I was a child.   Not because its the biggest (though that helps) but just so much mystery behind those clouds.   And what exactly is a gaseous giant?!   No scientist can answer that question even if have some well founded theories on the general makeup.   So cool to think we might find out soon.

Bill Nye stars in various videos online and makes a few appearances on Star Talk.


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## Drone (Jul 2, 2016)

Lots of cool stuff:

Part 1:


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## Drone (Jul 2, 2016)

part 2:


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## Drone (Jul 2, 2016)

Part 3!


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## Drone (Jul 3, 2016)

1 day 18 hours left


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## Jetster (Jul 3, 2016)

R-T-B said:


> I can't decide which is more of a throwback...  the fact that the probe launched 5 years ago (holy shit it seems like yesterday I read about it) or that Bill Nye youtube.
> 
> I used to love Bill Nye.  He's a legit science man, bro:



I use to love him too. The irony is he only has a BS in Mechanical Engineering. He's not a scientist. He an entertainer


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## R-T-B (Jul 3, 2016)

Jetster said:


> I use to love him too. The irony is he only has a BS in Mechanical Engineering. He's not a scientist. He an entertainer



I'm aware (it's why I called him a "science man" rather than a scientist).  He was good at selling science on tv to kids though, and let's be honest, he knows plenty enough for that.


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## Jetster (Jul 3, 2016)

R-T-B said:


> I'm aware (it's why I called him a "science man" rather than a scientist).  He was good at selling science on tv to kids though, and let's be honest, he knows plenty enough for that.


Yea I love listening to him. He gets excited about it


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## Drone (Jul 4, 2016)

Just 5 hours left:

Latest news


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## Drone (Jul 5, 2016)

Juno Infographics by NASA JPL. They probably answer lots of questions you might ask:


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## Niteblooded (Jul 8, 2016)

No cool stuff but update for my fellow nerds...

On July 6 they powered up 5 of the 9 payloads (unless there is more that's not public).   The rest will be powered up by the end of the month.

"We are in our planned 53.4 day orbit. Now we are focusing on preparing for our fourth and final main engine burn, which will put us in our 14-day science orbit on October 19.”

The next time Juno’s orbit carries it close by the planet will be on Aug. 27. The flyby is expected to provide some preliminary science data.

“We had to turn all our beautiful instruments off to help ensure a successful Jupiter orbit insertion on July 4,” said Scott Bolton, Juno principal investigator from the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio. “But next time around we will have our eyes and ears open. *You can expect us to release some information about our findings around September 1.*”​
So ya... we have to wait for the good stuff. 

Pretty standard though as they have to do a system checkout, lock in their orbit and power on the instruments in a safe fashion especially since Jupiter's orbit is more dangerous than any other satellite has flown.   Here is a look at their 9 instruments:

*Microwave radiometer (MWR)* - The microwave radiometer comprises six antennas mounted on two of the sides of the body of the probe. They will perform measurements of electromagnetic waves on frequencies in the microwave range: 600 MHz, 1.2, 2.4, 4.8, 9.6 and 22 GHz, the only microwave frequencies which are able to pass through the thick Jovian atmosphere. The radiometer will measure the abundance of water and ammonia in the deep layers of the atmosphere up to 200 bar pressure or 500 to 600 km deep. The combination of different wavelengths and the emission angle should make it possible to obtain a temperature profile at various levels of the atmosphere. The data collected will determine how deep the atmospheric circulation is.

*Jovian Infrared Auroral Mapper (JIRAM)* - The spectrometer mapper JIRAM, operating in the near infrared (between 2 and 5 μm), conducts surveys in the upper layers of the atmosphere to a depth of between 50 and 70 km where the pressure reaches 5 to 7 bars. JIRAM will provide images of the aurora in the wavelength of 3.4 μm in regions with abundant H3+ ions. By measuring the heat radiated by the atmosphere of Jupiter, JIRAM can determine how clouds with water are flowing beneath the surface. It can also detect methane, water vapor, ammonia and phosphine. It was not required that this device meets the radiation resistance requirements.

*Magnetometer (MAG)* - Many satellites use a magnetometer for attitude determination and correction but here is what it does for Juno... The magnetic field investigation has three goals: mapping of the magnetic field, determining the dynamics of Jupiter's interior, and determination of the three-dimensional structure of the polar magnetosphere. The magnetometer experiment consists of the Flux Gate Magnetometer (FGM), which will measure the strength and direction of the magnetic field lines, and the Advanced Stellar Compass (ASC), which will monitor the orientation of the magnetometer sensors.

*Gravity Science (GS)* - The purpose of measuring gravity by radio waves is to establish a map of the distribution of mass inside Jupiter. The uneven distribution of mass in Jupiter induces small variations in gravity all along the orbit followed by the probe when it runs closer to the surface of the planet. These gravity variations drive small probe velocity changes. The purpose of radio science is to detect the Doppler effect on radio broadcasts issued by Juno toward Earth in Ka band and X band, which are frequency ranges that can conduct the study with fewer disruptions related to the solar wind or the ionosphere.

*Jovian Auroral Distributions Experiment (JADE)* - The energetic particle detector JADE will measure the angular distribution, energy, and the velocity vector of ions and electrons at low energy (ions between 13 eV and 20 KeV, electrons of 200 eV to 40 KeV) present in the aurora of Jupiter. On JADE, like JEDI, the electron analyzers are installed on three sides of the upper plate which allows a measure of frequency three times higher.

*Jovian Energetic Particle Detector Instrument (JEDI)* - Pretty sure they threw Jovian in front just to get this acronym.  ...The energetic particle detector JEDI will measure the angular distribution and the velocity vector of ions and electrons at high energy (ions between 20 keV and 1 MeV, electrons from 40 to 500 keV) present in the polar magnetosphere of Jupiter. JEDI has three identical sensors dedicated to the study of particular ions of hydrogen, helium, oxygen and sulfur.

*Radio and Plasma Wave Sensor (Waves)* - Looks like to measure the ability for communications for future missions no doubt as well get an idea of the atmosphere's environment... This instrument will identify the regions of auroral currents that define Jovian radio emissions and acceleration of the auroral particles by measuring the radio and plasma spectra in the auroral region.

*Ultraviolet Imaging Spectrograph (UVS)* - UVS will record the wavelength, position and arrival time of detected ultraviolet photons during the time when the spectrograph slit views Jupiter during each turn of the spacecraft. Using a 1024 × 256 micro channel plate detector, it will provide spectral images of the UV auroral emissions in the polar magnetosphere.

*JunoCam (JCM)* - A visible light camera/telescope, included in the payload to facilitate education and public outreach. *It will operate for only seven orbits around Jupiter* because of the planet's damaging radiation and magnetic field. ...sure it's not just for us but who cares what their reason is, this is the fun cool stuff!  Who doesn't want close-ups of Jupiter?   SpacePr0n Cam is probably not a media friendly name.


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## Drone (Jul 8, 2016)

View from NASA's Eyes on the Solar System and simulated data from the Juno flight team (July 3-4)












NASA will purposefully crash Juno to protect alien life

After its final trip around Jupiter (February 2018), Juno will enter what NASA euphemistically calls its "deorbit phase".

That's a tactful way of saying Juno will spend the last 5.5 days of its existence hurling itself into Jupiter. The planet's atmosphere is so harsh the spacecraft will burn up.

Throwing Juno into Jupiter protects Jupiter's moons from contamination since the trip through Jupiter's atmosphere and radiation will destroy any bacteria that may have snuck onto Juno before it launched.


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## Ahhzz (Jul 12, 2016)

Juno crossing Jupiter's "Bow Shock", and entering the Magnetosphere


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## Drone (Jul 13, 2016)

The JunoCam camera aboard NASA's Juno mission is operational and sending down data after the spacecraft's July 4 arrival at Jupiter. Juno's visible-light camera was turned on 6 days after Juno fired its main engine and placed itself into orbit around the largest planetary inhabitant of our solar system. The first high-resolution images of Jupiter are still a few weeks away. "This scene from JunoCam indicates it survived its first pass through Jupiter's extreme radiation environment without any degradation and is ready to take on Jupiter," said Scott Bolton, principal investigator from the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio. "We can't wait to see the first view of Jupiter's poles." 

NASA's Juno Spacecraft Sends First In-orbit View






_JunoCam was included on the spacecraft specifically for purposes of public engagement, it's not considered one of the mission's science instruments_.


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## R-T-B (Jul 13, 2016)

The red spot is visible!  Some amateur astronomers were thinking it disappeared due to being unable to locate it for a bit, IIRC.  Glad to see it's still alive and well. 

EDIT:  It appears I misremembered.  It has only been shrinking as of late:

http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2014/15may_grs/


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## Drone (Aug 26, 2016)

This dual view of Jupiter was taken on August 23, when NASA's Juno spacecraft was 2.8 million miles (4.4 million km) from the gas giant planet on the inbound leg of its initial 53.5-day capture orbit.

This Saturday at 5:51 a.m. PDT, (8:51 a.m. EDT, 12:51 UTC) Juno will get closer to the cloud tops of Jupiter. At the moment of closest approach, Juno will be about 2500 miles (4200 km) above Jupiter's swirling clouds and traveling at 130000 mph (208000 km/h) with respect to the planet. There are 35 more close flybys of Jupiter scheduled during its prime mission (scheduled to end in February of 2018). The Aug. 27 flyby will be the first time Juno will have its entire suite of science instruments activated and looking at the giant planet as the spacecraft zooms past.


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## Drone (Aug 28, 2016)

*NASA's Juno mission successfully executed its first of 36 orbital flybys of Jupiter today*. The time of closest approach with the gas-giant world was 6:44 a.m. PDT (9:44 a.m. EDT, 13:44 UTC). *This flyby was the closest Juno will get to Jupiter during its prime mission*.








Early post-flyby telemetry indicates that everything worked as planned and Juno is firing on all cylinders.


35 orbits to go


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## Drone (Sep 2, 2016)

Latest news videos and images:






This image from Juno spacecraft provides a never-before-seen perspective on Jupiter's *south pole*.

The JunoCam instrument acquired the view on August 27, 2016, when the spacecraft was ~94500 km above the polar region. At this point, the spacecraft was about an hour past its closest approach, and fine detail in the south polar region is clearly resolved.






Jupiter's *north pole*.

Unlike the equatorial region's familiar structure of belts and zones, the poles are mottled by clockwise and counterclockwise rotating storms of various sizes, similar to giant versions of terrestrial hurricanes.






78000 km above Jupiter's polar cloud tops






Unprecedented infrared view of Jupiter's southern aurora. Such views are not possible from Earth.


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## hat (Sep 4, 2016)

>



How does one make a bike travel at 70MPH?


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## dorsetknob (Sep 4, 2016)

hat said:


> How does one make a bike travel at 70MPH?



Ask guy Martin to ride it









Ps He set the world Speed Record of 112MPH on SAND


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## Caring1 (Sep 4, 2016)

hat said:


> How does one make a bike travel at 70MPH?


I'm more interested in why they think 100mph is an automobiles limit. wth.


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## CAPSLOCKSTUCK (Sep 4, 2016)

Just for info

Guy Martin achieved that record speed on my local beach....

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Back to Jupiter

Hitching a ride on Juno are three 1.5-inch Lego figures depicting the 17th century Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei, the Roman god Jupiter, and the deity's wife Juno - all made from aluminium to withstand the Jupiter's harsh environment.

By drawing attention to these Lego characters, Nasa aims to inspire the next generation of spacecraft engineers by encouraging children to explore subjects such as science and technology.


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## hat (Sep 4, 2016)

Are those figures actually supposed to be able to survive on Jupiter? I think they'd meet a quick end there...


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## rtwjunkie (Sep 4, 2016)

hat said:


> Are those figures actually supposed to be able to survive on Jupiter? I think they'd meet a quick end there...



Yeah, you and me both. Aluminum will melt and then likely burn in the extreme temperatures caused by the air pressure.


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## hat (Sep 4, 2016)

Nevermind probably being totally crushed even if it were to survive the other aspects of the super hostile place...


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## CAPSLOCKSTUCK (Sep 4, 2016)

In order to assure that it cannot crash into Europa or other possible ocean moons and potentially contaminate them with Earth organisms,  Juno and her Lego passengers are doooooomed.


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## R-T-B (Sep 5, 2016)

CAPSLOCKSTUCK said:


> In order to assure that it cannot crash into Europa or other possible ocean moons and potentially contaminate them with Earth organisms,  Juno and her Lego passengers are doooooomed.



It would've been awesome to make them out of something that could survive Jupiters pressures, albeit probably impossible.  I just like the idea of alien archeologists from the future assuming Jupiter was once inhabited by a group of small, yellow, knobheadded people with only two fingers.


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## Drone (Oct 3, 2016)




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## CAPSLOCKSTUCK (Oct 17, 2016)

A technical hitch on on the Juno spacecraft has led to its next flyby of Jupiter being delayed until December.

The manoeuvre was originally scheduled for 19 October but had to be put back due to an issue with the space probe's engine.

Nasa confirmed that the a rocket engine burn designed to put the Juno spacecraft closer to Jupiter has been postponed while engineers investigate a valve issue.


'Telemetry indicates that two helium check valves that play an important role in the firing of the spacecraft's main engine did not operate as expected during a command sequence that was initiated yesterday,' said Rick Nybakken, Juno project manager at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

The valves should have opened in a few seconds, but it took several minutes. We need to better understand this issue before moving forward with a burn of the main engine.'

The next opportunity for a close flyby of Jupiter will be 11 December, Nasa confirmed.  Three dozen close flybys of Jupiter are planned during the 20-month mission.


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## Drone (Oct 20, 2016)

Anyone wants a slice of Jupiter?






This composite image depicts Jupiter's cloud formations as seen through the eyes of Juno's Microwave Radiometer (MWR) instrument.






This image of the sunlit part of Jupiter and its swirling atmosphere was created using data from Juno's JunoCam instrument.


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## Drone (Dec 14, 2016)

The image was taken on Dec. 11, 2016, at 9:27 a.m. PST (12:27 EST), as the Juno spacecraft performed its third close flyby of Jupiter. At the time the image was taken, the spacecraft was ~24 600 km from the planet.


fuuuuuuuuc ... unfortunately majority of pics won't show in this thread and I can't edit my own posts, anywho anyone who wants to see those pictures just click on reply on any of those posts but don't reply, the images will show.


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## Drone (Dec 14, 2016)

New image*: Jupiter's south pole


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## Drone (Dec 27, 2016)

Groovy!


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## Drone (Jan 13, 2017)

image details


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## Drone (Jan 19, 2017)

Another close-up






image details


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## Drone (Jan 26, 2017)

Juno's Close Look at the Little Red Spot


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## Drone (Feb 1, 2017)

Jupiter Polar Haze in False Color






image details


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## Drone (Feb 4, 2017)

Jovian 'Antarctica'


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## Drone (Feb 15, 2017)

This animation of Jupiter is made from > 1000 images taken by 91 amateurs from around the world between the 19th of December 2014 and the 31st of March 2015.


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## Drone (Feb 17, 2017)

*Juno to Remain in Current Orbit at Jupiter*

*



*

NASA's Juno spacecraft soared directly over Jupiter's south pole when JunoCam acquired this image on February 2, 2017


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## FreedomEclipse (Feb 17, 2017)

Back in my day. Juno was a beach where many a British Soldier lost their lives in taking


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## CAPSLOCKSTUCK (Feb 17, 2017)

Back in my day...exploration like this was a dream.....the stuff of fiction.


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## dorsetknob (Feb 17, 2017)

FreedomEclipse said:


> Back in my day. Juno was a beach where many a British Soldier lost their lives in taking


Hate to piss on your parade   but out of  " RESPECT TO THOSE THAT DID LOSE THEIR LIFE ON JUNO BEACH  "  you ain't that old


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## Drone (Mar 27, 2017)

new image:


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## FreedomEclipse (Mar 28, 2017)

dorsetknob said:


> Hate to piss on your parade   but out of  " RESPECT TO THOSE THAT DID LOSE THEIR LIFE ON JUNO BEACH  "  you ain't that old



I fought on juno beach quite a few times.... In call of duty


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## Drone (Apr 20, 2017)

This enhanced color Jupiter image, taken by the JunoCam imager on NASA's Juno spacecraft, showcases several interesting features on the apparent edge (limb) of the planet.


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## natr0n (Apr 20, 2017)

All these Jupiter pics look like they been run through photoshop.


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## dorsetknob (Apr 20, 2017)

Sorry but that is crappist jupiter image i've seen" EVER"
Jupiter is Round that photo make jupiter look like a heptagonal shape


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## Drone (Apr 20, 2017)

It's a processed mosaic like 99.99% of all space images. Junocam isn't uber cool camera some stuff chopped off, background stars removed but then again it's better than some celebrity politics military and other crap


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## Drone (Apr 20, 2017)

Two more images:

Juno spacecraft is so close to Jupiter (and Jupiter is so big) that it cannot capture the entire illuminated area in one image — the sides get cut off.

Again like @dorsetknob  said quality isn't good because taking high quality images of Jupiter wasn't Juno's primary objective (primary objectives: Reveal information on Jupiter's magnetic field and evolution of its core)


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## Drone (May 26, 2017)

New images:

















*The first image of Jupiter's ring taken from the inside looking out. *(Bright star is Betelgeuse)


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## Drone (Sep 6, 2017)

Updates:


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## WhiteNoise (Sep 6, 2017)

awesome.


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## R-T-B (Sep 7, 2017)

I want Junocam to spin around and show me how Lego Jupiter and friends have held up.


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## Drone (Oct 2, 2017)

95 Minutes Over Jupiter






This sequence of color-enhanced images shows how quickly the viewing geometry changes for NASA's Juno spacecraft as it swoops by Jupiter. The images were obtained by JunoCam.


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## Drone (Oct 22, 2017)

Jupiter's moon Amalthea casts a shadow on the gas giant






Jupiter and two of its largest moons – Io and Europa


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## Drone (Dec 11, 2017)

new gif and vid


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## Drone (Jan 12, 2018)

Jupiter's Colorful Cloud Belts


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## Drone (Jan 26, 2018)

Jupiter's Stormy North


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