NASA staff spent their Independence Day evening not watching fireworks but instead successfully securing orbit for its latest Jupiter-bound space probe.
Juno successfully completed a five-year journey and entered an around the solar system's largest planet late Monday. The probe will focus on its atmosphere and explore its polar regions. It's NASA's first trip back to Jupiter after the conclusion of the successful Galileo probe's mission.
"Juno is just a more technically sound probe," said Tim Collins, senior presenter at the Whitworth Ferguson Planetarium at Buffalo State College. "It's going to do a lot of in-depth study of the atmosphere, to try and find out what's going on in the Jovian atmosphere as well as do a lot of exploration around the poles."
Juno, Collins noted, is named for the Roman goddess and wife of Jupiter. According to Roman mythology, Juno could see through clouds.
Simply achieving orbit was no small feat for NASA personnel, who were guiding the probe to a planet with a strong gravitational field, one that actually works to stabilize the Asteroid Belt and draws many inbound objects toward that planet and out of harm's way for Earth. Juno is solar powered, and given Jupiter's distance from the Sun, Collins explained it is more tricky to generate power.
"It's a six-sided solar powered craft. Being solar powered and that far from the Earth - Jupiter gets 25 times less sunlight energy - it's part of the challenge," Collins explained. "It's the longest-distance orbiter to be solar powered."
Juno's predecessor, Galileo, raised many eyebrows in the science community when it observed evidence of a liquid ocean beneath the icy crust of one of Jupiter's moons, Europa. Some scientists wonder if that liquid environment may have the right conditions to support life.
Those who are curious, though, will have to wait a little longer to get an answer. Juno's mission does not include further investigation of Europa.
"There's actually a plan for a mission in 2022 to look at the satellite again," Collins said.
Follow this link to watch a NASA animation about the Juno mission.
