NASA's Juno Spacecraft in Orbit Around Mighty Jupiter (NASA)

[eppur_se_muova]

(Press releases, so no 4-para limit)


July 4, 2016
RELEASE 16-071
NASA's Juno Spacecraft in Orbit Around Mighty Jupiter

After an almost five-year journey to the solar system’s largest planet, NASA's Juno spacecraft successfully entered Jupiter’s orbit during a 35-minute engine burn. Confirmation that the burn had completed was received on Earth at 8:53 p.m. PDT (11:53 p.m. EDT) Monday, July 4.

“Independence Day always is something to celebrate, but today we can add to America’s birthday another reason to cheer -- Juno is at Jupiter,” said NASA administrator Charlie Bolden. “And what is more American than a NASA mission going boldly where no spacecraft has gone before? With Juno, we will investigate the unknowns of Jupiter’s massive radiation belts to delve deep into not only the planet’s interior, but into how Jupiter was born and how our entire solar system evolved.”

Confirmation of a successful orbit insertion was received from Juno tracking data monitored at the navigation facility at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California, as well as at the Lockheed Martin Juno operations center in Littleton, Colorado. The telemetry and tracking data were received by NASA's Deep Space Network antennas in Goldstone, California, and Canberra, Australia.

“This is the one time I don’t mind being stuck in a windowless room on the night of the 4th of July,” said Scott Bolton, principal investigator of Juno from Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio. “The mission team did great. The spacecraft did great. We are looking great. It’s a great day.”

Preplanned events leading up to the orbital insertion engine burn included changing the spacecraft’s attitude to point the main engine in the desired direction and then increasing the spacecraft’s rotation rate from 2 to 5 revolutions per minute (RPM) to help stabilize it..

The burn of Juno’s 645-Newton Leros-1b main engine began on time at 8:18 p.m. PDT (11:18 p.m. EDT), decreasing the spacecraft’s velocity by 1,212 miles per hour (542 meters per second) and allowing Juno to be captured in orbit around Jupiter. Soon after the burn was completed, Juno turned so that the sun’s rays could once again reach the 18,698 individual solar cells that give Juno its energy.

“The spacecraft worked perfectly, which is always nice when you’re driving a vehicle with 1.7 billion miles on the odometer,” said Rick Nybakken, Juno project manager from JPL. “Jupiter orbit insertion was a big step and the most challenging remaining in our mission plan, but there are others that have to occur before we can give the science team the mission they are looking for.”

Over the next few months, Juno’s mission and science teams will perform final testing on the spacecraft’s subsystems, final calibration of science instruments and some science collection.

“Our official science collection phase begins in October, but we’ve figured out a way to collect data a lot earlier than that,” said Bolton. “Which when you’re talking about the single biggest planetary body in the solar system is a really good thing. There is a lot to see and do here.”

Juno's principal goal is to understand the origin and evolution of Jupiter. With its suite of nine 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. The mission also 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. As our primary example of a giant planet, Jupiter also can provide critical knowledge for understanding the planetary systems being discovered around other stars.

The Juno spacecraft launched on Aug. 5, 2011 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. JPL manages the Juno mission for NASA. Juno is part of NASA's New Frontiers Program, managed at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, for the agency’s Science Mission Directorate. Lockheed Martin Space Systems in Denver built the spacecraft. The California Institute of Technology in Pasadena manages JPL for NASA.

More information on the Juno mission is available at:

http://www.nasa.gov/juno

Follow the mission on Facebook and Twitter at:

http://www.facebook.com/NASAJuno

http://www.twitter.com/NASAJuno

-end-

Dwayne Brown / Laurie Cantillo
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1726 / 202-358-1077
[e-mail] / [e-mail]

DC Agle
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
818-393-9011
[e-mail]
Last Updated: July 5, 2016
Editor: Allard Beutel
Tags: Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Juno, Jupiter, Solar System


********

Juno Enters Orbit Around Jupiter


UPDATE: NASA’s Juno mission has completed its main engine burn and entered orbit around Jupiter. Watch the live NASA news briefing at 1 a.m. EDT for more information.

NASA's Juno mission, launched nearly five years ago, will soon reach its final destination: the most massive planet in our solar system, Jupiter. On the evening of July 4, at roughly 9 p.m. PDT (12 a.m. EDT, July 5), the spacecraft will complete a burn of its main engine, placing it in orbit around the king of planets.

During Juno's orbit-insertion phase, or JOI, the spacecraft will perform a series of steps in preparation for a main engine burn that will guide it into orbit. At 6:16 p.m. PDT (9:16 p.m. EDT), Juno will begin to turn slowly away from the sun and toward its orbit-insertion attitude. Then 72 minutes later, it will make a faster turn into the orbit-insertion attitude.

At 7:41 p.m. PDT (10:41 p.m. EDT), Juno switches to its low-gain antenna. Fine-tune adjustments are then made to the spacecraft's attitude. Twenty-two minutes before the main engine burn, at 7:56 p.m. PDT (10:56 p.m. EDT), the spacecraft spins up from 2 to 5 revolutions per minute (RPM) to help stabilize it for the orbit insertion burn.

At 8:18 p.m. PDT (11:18 p.m. EDT), Juno's 35-minute main-engine burn will begin. This will slow it enough to be captured by the giant planet’s gravity. The burn will impart a mean change in velocity of 1,212 mph (542 meters a second) on the spacecraft. It is performed in view of Earth, allowing its progress to be monitored by the mission teams at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, and Lockheed Martin Space Systems in Denver, via signal reception by Deep Space Network antennas in Goldstone, California, and Canberra, Australia.

After the main engine burn, Juno will be in orbit around Jupiter. The spacecraft will spin down from 5 to 2 RPM, turn back toward the sun, and ultimately transmit telemetry via its high-gain antenna.

Juno starts its tour of Jupiter in a 53.5-day orbit. The spacecraft saves fuel by executing a burn that places it in a capture orbit with a 53.5-day orbit instead of going directly for the 14-day orbit that will occur during the mission's primary science collection period. The 14-day science orbit phase will begin after the final burn of the mission for Juno’s main engine on October 19.

JPL manages the Juno mission for NASA. The mission's principal investigator is Scott Bolton of Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio. The mission is part of NASA's New Frontiers Program, managed at the agency's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, for NASA's Science Mission Directorate. Lockheed Martin Space Systems in Denver built the spacecraft.

Learn more about the June mission, and get an up-to-date schedule of events, at:

http://www.nasa.gov/juno

https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/jupiter/junotoolkit

Follow the mission on social media at:

http://www.facebook.com/NASAJuno

http://www.twitter.com/NASAJuno

For NASA TV streaming video and schedules, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/nasatv

DC Agle
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
818-393-9011
[e-mail]

Written by Whitney Clavin
Caltech

2016-172
Last Updated: July 4, 2016
Editor: Tony Greicius
Tags: Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Juno, Jupiter, Solar System

***

check for updates at https://www.nasa.gov/feature/juno-enters-orbit-around-jupiter (scroll up/down)

[riversedge]

1. Congrats to the team......Pic. America is great-we can do great things

with the right mindset and funding. they are happy-as they should be.



TWEET
USA TODAY ‏@USATODAY 1h1 hour ago

ICYMI: NASA made history, again. Juno mission's spacecraft entered Jupiter's orbit. (AP) http://usat.ly/29sOTOt

[sarge43]

2. "It works; it's ours and it didn't hurt anyone."

JPL tribute to Voyager

Congratulations, ladies and gentlemen. Well done.

[Uncle Joe]

3. Congratulations to NASA.

Thanks for the thread, eppur_se_muova.

[PJMcK]

4. Congratulations to all the scientists and engineers in the Juno project

This is an amazing feet of technology and creativity by all involved. Think of it: a five year journey of 1.5 billion miles to achieve orbit of the largest planet in our solar system! The mathematics alone are incredible- thanks also to Sir Isaac Newton.

And to plan Juno's arrival for Independence Day (sort of) shows that America IS great. We don't need Donald Trump to show us how to be great; our best minds and talents show us every day.

[getting old in mke]

5. I was cheering, too

but more importantly, so was my 26 year old daughter.

The tales of the TV brought into classrooms to watch the Mercury launches infects a new generation!

[DirkGently]

6. NASA rocks. n/t

[whopis01]

7. Nice timing on July 4th.

Pathfinder landed on Mars on July 4th, 1997