Teh One Who Knocks
08-04-2011, 04:31 PM
Written by Ben McKee - 9News Colorado
http://i.imgur.com/uMUJO.jpg
DENVER - NASA, Lockheed Martin and United Launch Alliance are set to write the next chapter in Colorado's space story with the launch of the 'Juno Mission' to Jupiter.
Juno is set to launch on a nearly five-year journey toward the gas giant on Friday from Cape Canaveral, Fla., with a planned arrival in July 2016. The spacecraft will spend just over a year orbiting Jupiter's poles while studying its origin, atmosphere and other characteristics.
The $1.1 billion Juno mission will also allow humans to see below Jupiter's dense cloud cover for the first time. It will also capture color images of Jupiter's cloud tops in visible light as a way of engaging the public, who will be involved in helping design which areas of Jupiter should be imaged.
Juno marks the eighth time Jupiter has been a port-of-call or final destination for a NASA mission. It is a solar-powered, spinning spacecraft designed to operate at a remarkably great distance from the sun.
The spacecraft is the first of its kind, with three solar panels extending from the device's hexagonal body. Juno is built that way because the orbit of Jupiter is about five times farther from the sun than Earth, receiving about 25 times less sunlight than Earth and requiring some crafty engineering.
After a year in orbit, Juno's mission will be complete. Engineers will then command the spacecraft to dive into Jupiter's atmosphere where it will burn up like a meteor. The reason for this, according to NASA, is to avoid the threat of contamination of possible Earth microbes on any of Jupiter's potentially habitable moons.
For more information, click onto the Juno Mission website at http://www.lockheedmartin.com/juno or http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/juno/main/index.html
http://i.imgur.com/uMUJO.jpg
DENVER - NASA, Lockheed Martin and United Launch Alliance are set to write the next chapter in Colorado's space story with the launch of the 'Juno Mission' to Jupiter.
Juno is set to launch on a nearly five-year journey toward the gas giant on Friday from Cape Canaveral, Fla., with a planned arrival in July 2016. The spacecraft will spend just over a year orbiting Jupiter's poles while studying its origin, atmosphere and other characteristics.
The $1.1 billion Juno mission will also allow humans to see below Jupiter's dense cloud cover for the first time. It will also capture color images of Jupiter's cloud tops in visible light as a way of engaging the public, who will be involved in helping design which areas of Jupiter should be imaged.
Juno marks the eighth time Jupiter has been a port-of-call or final destination for a NASA mission. It is a solar-powered, spinning spacecraft designed to operate at a remarkably great distance from the sun.
The spacecraft is the first of its kind, with three solar panels extending from the device's hexagonal body. Juno is built that way because the orbit of Jupiter is about five times farther from the sun than Earth, receiving about 25 times less sunlight than Earth and requiring some crafty engineering.
After a year in orbit, Juno's mission will be complete. Engineers will then command the spacecraft to dive into Jupiter's atmosphere where it will burn up like a meteor. The reason for this, according to NASA, is to avoid the threat of contamination of possible Earth microbes on any of Jupiter's potentially habitable moons.
For more information, click onto the Juno Mission website at http://www.lockheedmartin.com/juno or http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/juno/main/index.html