Juno
Juno |
(TFS)
- Juno is a NASA space probe orbiting the planet Jupiter. It was built by
Lockheed Martin and is operated by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The
spacecraft was launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on August 5, 2011
(UTC), as part of the New Frontiers program, and entered a polar orbit of
Jupiter on July 5, 2016 (UTC), to begin a scientific investigation of the
planet. After completing its mission, Juno will be intentionally deorbited into
Jupiter's atmosphere.
Juno's
mission is to measure Jupiter's composition, gravity field, magnetic field, and
polar magnetosphere. It will also search for clues about how the planet formed,
including whether it has a rocky core, the amount of water present within the
deep atmosphere, mass distribution, and its deep winds, which can reach speeds
of 618 kilometers per hour (384 mph).
Juno
is the second spacecraft to orbit Jupiter, after the nuclear powered Galileo
orbiter, which orbited from 1995 to 2003. Unlike all earlier spacecraft to the
outer planets, Juno is powered only by solar arrays, commonly used by
satellites orbiting Earth and working in the inner Solar System, whereas
radioisotope thermoelectric generators are commonly used for missions to the
outer Solar System and beyond. For Juno, however, the three largest solar array
wings ever deployed on a planetary probe play an integral role in stabilizing
the spacecraft as well as generating power.
SBB
source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juno_(spacecraft)
source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juno_(spacecraft)