Juno

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Getting close to launch, so why not fufill some of our desire for space exploration? :D

Juno is a NASA New Frontiers spacecraft with the primary aim of greatly increasing our understanding of the planet Jupiter, scheduled to launch atop an Atlas V 551.

Juno’s principal goal is to understand the origin and evolution of Jupiter. Underneath its dense cloud cover, Jupiter safeguards secrets to the fundamental processes and conditions that governed our solar system during its formation. As our primary example of a giant planet, Jupiter can also provide critical knowledge for understanding the planetary systems being discovered around other stars.

With its suite of science instruments, Juno will investigate the existence of a solid planetary core, map Jupiter's intense magnetic field, measure the amount of water and ammonia in the deep atmosphere, and observe the planet's auroras.

Juno will let us take a giant step forward in our understanding of how giant planets form and the role these titans played in putting together the rest of the solar system.

Juno will be the first mission to Jupiter using solar panels instead of the radioisotope thermoelectric generators (RTGs) used by Pioneer 10, Pioneer 11, the Voyager program, Cassini–Huygens, and the Galileo orbiter. Advances made in both solar cell technology and efficiency over the past several decades makes it economically feasible to use solar panels of practical size to provide power at a distance of 5 AU from the Sun. In addition, RTGs are in short supply, limiting their availability for space missions. NASA plans several more projects involving RTGs,[14] and the decision to use alternate technology on this mission is more practical and economical than political.
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The launch is scheduled to take place on Friday, 5th of August at 16:34 BST (11:34 EDT), with a 59 minute window.

Here is where to watch it:

The new NASA TV link

NASA TV in HD on UStream

The Spaceflight Now link

Another 1200kbps stream​

Mission information:



There is a pre-launch news conference tomorrow, broadcast on NASA TV on Wednesday, 3rd August at 18:00 BST (13:00 EDT, Media and Education Channels).

The Juno NASA Tweetup will also go ahead on the days leading up to an including the event, featuring non other than kurtjmac (PC Builder, player of Minecraft, Astronomer and general all round 'good guy') as well as 149 other people. You will be able to follow this from their twitter accounts and at NASA TV (Education Channel) on Thursday, 4th of August at 15:30 PM BST (11:30 AM EDT), repeated at 8PM BST that day (Public, HD and Education Channels).

Once launched Juno will make her way directly to Jupiter for arrival sometime in 2016 where she will carry out her (Earth) year long mission during 33 orbits of the gas giant.

​
Juno all packed up and ready to go:

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Hoisting Juno atop the most powerful Atlas rocket at Launch Complex 41:

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The assembled launch vehicle:

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Oh, and obvious credits to simultorman for some of the links and formatting ;)
 
mehuk said:
Didnt really take interest in science, I know mavity means I cant float away... but gas, surely thats just air or like air.. so a big ball of it, how does mavity force it into a circle that moves around the sun?

Cant we replicate that on earty? Get a ball of gas and make a planet on our own planet?
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You're surrounded by gas - mavity is what pulls the atmosphere towards the centre of the Earth. It also pulls everything in the universe towards everything else in the universe, so when the solar system formed from a huge disk of matter it pulled the clumps of gas together, and then you have a bigger clump of gas. That keeps going and keeps going until you have a giant clump of gas known as a planet. Notice how the gas giants form further out and the rocky planets closer to the sun because they're heavier and get pulled towards it more. If you're having trouble understanding it then this (might :D ) help:

http://www.kongregate.com/games/sarcastro/cosmic-crush

And one of the things Juno is supposed to find out is if Jupiter has a solid core or not.

Gackt said:
We can do both.
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Exactly, what do you expect from a National Aeronautics and Space Administration? :p
 
mehuk said:
Interesting, thanks for the pointers.

I was going to buy one of those telescope things, the proper ones that can see planets... but I didnt really know where to look and in the end was told that it wouldnt be that good a viewing anyway, I mean I wanted to see the surface of the planets like you can see the holes in the moon.... for like Mars and that id just see a circle.
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Yeah, but to be fair Mars is tiny, Jupiter and Saturn are far more 'impressive' :p

The moon through a scope is immense. But yeah... i mean, you could just google 'mars' and see images from observatories or rovers or probes, but there's something about seeing it 'in the flesh' that's just amazing, nothing between you and it.
 
Also, there's no such thing as centrifugal force. Gasses end up on the outside because they're lighter (read; have less mass) than the solids, which have a larger gravitational attraction.

lolshayper? ;)
 
bhavv said:
I had one of those, and I ended up severly frightened and scarred for life when I looked through it and all I saw was HUMONGOUS bacteria cells ....

I kind of didnt adjust it correctly :(
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'Kind of didn't adjust it correctly' doesn't cover it! :eek:

Telescopes don't have a 'macro' function you know :p
 
You can use some as terrestrial scopes but... i'm going to 'guess' user error in your case. What were you actually pointing it towards and had you focused it at all? What scope is it anyway? :p
 
Well it's a bit more in depth than that, but still. Pop the cap off, put an eyepiece in, find an object you want to look at and focus, then keep it in your field of view while the Earth rotates around it's axis. And really dark sites are amazing, definitely worth it every now and then, but they're not a necessity, unless (like me) you have a streetlight shining directly into your 'garden', but then you can always just take it to a park down the road or something.

If you're struggling an investment of 'Turn Left at Orion' wouldn't go amiss, think there's a new edition out soon. What scope is it? The bigger the better :D
 
simulatorman said:
The Atlas V has a proven record with launches:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlas_V#Atlas_V_launches

The focus of concern will be the trajectory burn, separation and solar array deployment. Fingers crossed that it all goes according to plan.
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Only a history of 'one' launch in this config though, i believe. Not that it makes a difference or anything :p

Aren't the engines they use on the Atlas Vs (RD-180?) out of production? What are they going to do when the supply runs out?
 
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Now just imagine it with this on top ;)

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Still, the tweetup looks amazingly fun, i wouldn't pass up the opportunity to go on one that's for sure :D
 
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