This animation depicts the orbit of NASA's Juno spacecraft at Jupiter in 2016 and 2017. Over about 15 months, Juno makes 33 orbits around the giant planet's poles, coming to within 3100 miles (5000 kilometers) of Jupiter's cloud tops every 11 days.
The view in this sequence shows Juno's successive passes around Jupiter without regard for the planet's rotation. In reality, Jupiter rotates every 10 hours, and Juno's orbit is timed so that during each close approach, the spacecraft flies over a different swath of the planet.
The view here is toward Jupiter, as seen from Earth over the course of the science mission. Jupiter's north pole is up.
The movie also illustrates how Juno's orbit tilts increasingly southward over time. This is because Jupiter is not a perfect sphere -- additional mass around its middle alters Juno's orbit during each successive pass.
This animation depicts the orbit of NASA's Juno spacecraft at Jupiter in 2016 and 2017. Over about 15 months, Juno makes 33 orbits around the giant planet's poles, coming to within 3100 miles (5000 kilometers) of Jupiter's cloud tops every 11 days.
The view in this sequence shows Juno's successive passes around Jupiter without regard for the planet's rotation. In reality, Jupiter rotates every 10 hours, and Juno's orbit is timed so that during each close approach, the spacecraft flies over a different swath of the planet.
The view here is toward Jupiter, as seen from Earth over the course of the science mission. Jupiter's north pole is up.
The movie also illustrates how Juno's orbit tilts increasingly southward over time. This is because Jupiter is not a perfect sphere -- additional mass around its middle alters Juno's orbit during each successive pass.
Credit: NASA/JPLEvolution of a Dawn Storm in Jupiter’s Polar AurorasNASAJuno2021-03-16 | Evolution of a dawn storm in Jupiter’s polar auroras. These observations come from the UVS (Ultraviolet Spectrograph) instrument on NASA's Juno spacecraft.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/UVS/ULiège/BonfondJuno Discovers Mars’ Dust Storms Fill Solar SystemNASAJuno2021-03-10 | NASA's Juno mission to Jupiter has made an unexpected discovery about a different planet – Mars. This video, with an original musical score by Vangelis, shows how Juno scientists discovered that Martian dust may be the source of a sky phenomenon known as the zodiacal light.
Look up to the night sky just before dawn, or after dusk, and you might see a faint column of light extending up from the horizon. That glow is the zodiacal light, or sunlight reflected toward Earth by a cloud of tiny dust particles orbiting the Sun.
Astronomers have long thought that the dust is brought into the inner solar system by asteroids and comets. But now, a team of Juno scientists argues that the planet Mars may be the source. The discovery resulted from dust particles slamming into the Juno spacecraft during its journey from Earth to Jupiter. Juno’s expansive solar panels unintentionally became the biggest and most sensitive dust detector ever built. Impacts on the solar panels provided important clues to the origin and orbital evolution of the dust, resolving some of the mysterious variations observed in the zodiacal light.
Video credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center Dan Gallagher (USRA): Lead Producer Michael Lentz (USRA): Lead Animator Kel Elkins (USRA): Lead Data Visualizer Lonnie Shekhtman (ADNET): Writer Rani Gran (NASA/GSFC): Public Affairs Officer John Connerney (NASA/GSFC): Scientist David Agle (JPL): Support Aaron E. Lepsch (ADNET): Technical Support
Original musical score by Vangelis, used with permission.A Flight Over JupiterNASAJuno2020-10-08 | This video uses images from NASA’s Juno mission to recreate what it might have looked like to ride along with the Juno spacecraft as it performed its 27th close flyby of Jupiter on June 2, 2020.
During the closest approach of this pass, the Juno spacecraft came within approximately 2,100 miles (3,400 kilometers) of Jupiter’s cloud tops. At that point, Jupiter’s powerful gravity accelerated the spacecraft to tremendous speed – about 130,000 mph (209,000 kilometers per hour) relative to the planet.
Citizen scientist Kevin M. Gill created the video using data from the spacecraft’s JunoCam instrument. The sequence combines 41 JunoCam still images digitally projected onto a sphere, with a virtual “camera” providing views of Jupiter from different angles as the spacecraft speeds by.
The original JunoCam images were taken on June 2, 2020, between 2:47 a.m. PDT (5:47 a.m. EDT) and 4:25 a.m. PDT (7:25 a.m. EDT).
For more information, see: https://www.missionjuno.swri.edu/news/shallow-lightning-on-jupiter
Animation: Koji Kuramura Music: Vangelis Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS/Kevin M. GillJuno Approach Movie of Jupiter and the Galilean MoonsNASAJuno2016-07-05 | NASA's Juno spacecraft captured a unique time-lapse movie of the Galilean satellites in motion about Jupiter. The movie begins on June 12th with Juno 10 million miles from Jupiter, and ends on June 29th, 3 million miles distant. The innermost moon is volcanic Io; next in line is the ice-crusted ocean world Europa, followed by massive Ganymede, and finally, heavily cratered Callisto. Galileo observed these moons to change position with respect to Jupiter over the course of a few nights. From this observation he realized that the moons were orbiting mighty Jupiter, a truth that forever changed humanity's understanding of our place in the cosmos. Earth was not the center of the Universe. For the first time in history, we look upon these moons as they orbit Jupiter and share in Galileo’s revelation. This is the motion of nature's harmony.Ask Team Juno - MagnetosphereNASAJuno2014-11-03 | Juno Project Scientist Steve Levin answers Facebook questions on Jupiter's strong magnetosphere.
For more information on Mission Juno, visit http://www.nasa.gov/juno or http://www.missionjuno.swri.edu.Juno Flies by Earth and Moon (music by Vangelis)NASAJuno2013-12-12 | When NASA's Juno spacecraft flew past Earth on Oct. 9, 2013, it received a boost in speed of more than 8,800 mph (about 7.3 kilometer per second), which set it on course for a July 4, 2016, rendezvous with Jupiter.
One of Juno's sensors, a special kind of camera optimized to track faint stars, also had a unique view of the Earth-moon system. The result was an intriguing, low-resolution glimpse of what our world would look like to a visitor from afar.
The cameras that took the images for the movie are located near the pointed tip of one of the spacecraft's three solar-array arms. They are part of Juno's Magnetic Field Investigation (MAG) and are normally used to determine the orientation of the magnetic sensors. These cameras look away from the sunlit side of the solar array, so as the spacecraft approached, the system's four cameras pointed toward Earth. Earth and the moon came into view when Juno was about 600,000 miles (966,000 kilometers) away -- about three times the Earth-moon separation.
During the flyby, timing was everything. Juno was traveling about twice as fast as a typical satellite, and the spacecraft itself was spinning at 2 rpm. To assemble a movie that wouldn't make viewers dizzy, the star tracker had to capture a frame each time the camera was facing Earth at exactly the right instant. The frames were sent to Earth, where they were processed into video format.Juno Detects a Ham Radio HI from EarthNASAJuno2013-12-10 | Related documentary: http://youtu.be/hg9xY1zvrsw Related press release: http://missionjuno.swri.edu/news/results-from-juno-earth-flyby
During its close flyby of Earth, NASA's Jupiter-bound Juno spacecraft listened for a coordinated, global transmission from amateur radio operators using its radio and plasma wave science instrument, known as Waves. This spectrogram and audio file illustrate that Waves did indeed detect the message.
The video presents natural radio signals from Earth's magnetosphere along with pieces of the repeated Morse code message, recorded by Juno and turned into sound.
In Morse code, characters are formed using dots and dashes, or "dits and dahs." The word "HI" is formed by transmitting four dits for "H," followed by a space and then two more dits for "I." The full message was transmitted 16 times, beginning again every ten minutes, starting at 1800 UTC (2pm U.S. Eastern time) on Oct. 9, 2013. Each dit lasted 30 seconds. Radio operators used two webpages (provided by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and the Juno team) to synchronize their transmissions.
The green dots at top represent pieces of the repeated message that Juno was able to detect. Grey dots represent parts of the message that were being transmitted, but which were not clearly detected by the Waves instrument.
Scientists have processed the data to identify the ham radio signal and to isolate it from the natural background. The strength of the ham radio signals is not indicated here, merely their detection in the data.
More than 1400 radio operators from around the world confirmed their participation in the activity. Given the variable conditions in Earth's ionosphere and uncertainties in how many hams would participate, scientists on the Waves team were not sure the signal could be detected. They were ecstatic when the message could be readily seen in the data.
The Waves data presented here cover the period from an hour before the ham radio transmissions began until about 19:20 UTC, which was the time of Juno's closest approach to Earth. A few minutes after closest approach, Juno entered safe mode, which caused its science instruments (including Waves) to be powered off. The spacecraft returned to normal operations a few days after the flyby.
This activity was conceived by the Juno team for the purpose of public engagement.
NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., manages the Juno mission for the principal investigator, Scott Bolton, of Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio. The Juno mission is part of the New Frontiers Program managed at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala. Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver, built the spacecraft. JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. The radio and plasma wave science team is based at the University of Iowa, Iowa City.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of IowaHI JunoNASAJuno2013-12-10 | This mini-documentary tells the story of how amateur radio operators sent a Morse Code "HI" to NASA's Jupiter-bound Juno spacecraft. Would Juno hear their call?
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of IowaJupiters Synchrotron EmissionNASAJuno2013-08-27 | Find out more at http://missionjuno.swri.edu and http://www.nasa.gov/juno.
Movie made from observations of Jupiter by the radio telescopes of the Very Large Array. Jupiter's spin axis is offset from its magnetic poles - meaning Jupiter has a "true north" and "magnetic north" like our planet does. This movie demonstrates the offset. Seen here is a type of radio emission from Jupiter called synchrotron emission, which is closely linked to the planet's magnetic field. Due to the offset, the synchrotron emission (a proxy for the magnetic field) appears to wobble as the planet rotates on its axis.
The scale of colors from blue ("low") to yellow ("high") represents the intensity of synchrotron emission, which is an indicator of the presence of electrons moving at nearly the speed of light. First observed in the late 1950s, the presence of these electrons was an early indicator to scientists that Jupiter was surrounded by belts of charged particle radiation.
Credit: NASA/JPL/NOAOJunos Magnetometer ExperimentNASAJuno2013-01-08 | Find out more at http://missionjuno.swri.edu and http://www.nasa.gov/juno.
What does Jupiter's magnetosphere look like? Magnetometer instrument team leader Jack Connerney tells us how we will find out.
Credit: NASA/JPL/SwRIJunos JunoCam InstrumentNASAJuno2013-01-08 | Find out more at http://missionjuno.swri.edu and http://www.nasa.gov/juno.
Where is the best place to photograph Jupiter's dynamic clouds? As JunoCam science co-investigator Candy Hansen explains, Junocam will let the public help decide.
Credit: NASA/JPL/SwRIJunos JADE InstrumentNASAJuno2013-01-08 | Find out more at http://missionjuno.swri.edu and http://www.nasa.gov/juno.
Instrument team leader for the Jovian Auroral Dynamics [or Distributions] Experiment (JADE) Dave McComas describes the set of instruments charged with detecting the electrons and ions that produce Jupiter's incredible auroras.
Credit: NASA/JPL/SwRIJunos UVS InstrumentNASAJuno2013-01-08 | Find out more at http://missionjuno.swri.edu and http://www.nasa.gov/juno.
The Ultraviolet Imaging Spectrograph (UVS) will take pictures of Jupiter's auroras in ultraviolet, or UV, light. UVS instrument team leader Randy Gladstone explains how seeing Jupiter's auroras in UV helps us understand Jupiter's upper atmosphere and the particles that cause the aurora.
Credit: NASA/JPL/SwRIJunos JIRAM InstrumentNASAJuno2013-01-08 | Find out more at http://missionjuno.swri.edu and http://www.nasa.gov/juno.
The Jovian Infrared Auroral Mapper (JIRAM) will study Jupiter's atmosphere in and around the auroras, learning more about the interactions between the auroras, the magnetic field and the magnetosphere. JIRAM team leader Alberto Adriani explains how this instrument works. JIRAM is contributed by the Italian Space Agency (ASI).
Credit: NASA/JPL/SwRIJunos Waves InstrumentNASAJuno2013-01-08 | Find out more at http://missionjuno.swri.edu and http://www.nasa.gov/juno.
What do radio waves tell us about Jupiter's electric fields and magnetic fluctuations? Waves instrument team leader Bill Kurth explans what the instrument is and how it will improve our understanding of the giant planet.
Credit: NASA/JPL/SwRIJunos JEDI InstrumentNASAJuno2013-01-08 | Find out more at http://missionjuno.swri.edu and http://www.nasa.gov/juno.
Instrument team leader for Juno's JEDI instrument, Barry Mauk, explains how measuring high energy particles will help us understand the processes in Jupiter's giant, rotating magnetosphere.
Credit: NASA/JPL/SwRIJunos MWR InstrumentNASAJuno2013-01-08 | Find out more at http://missionjuno.swri.edu and http://www.nasa.gov/juno.
Measuring thermal radiation will help us create a 3D picture of Jupiter's atmospheric structure. Instrument team leader for the Microwave Radiometer (or MWR), Mike Janssen, explains how it works.
Credit: NASA/JPL/SwRIJunos Gravity Science ExperimentNASAJuno2013-01-08 | Find out more at http://missionjuno.swri.edu and http://www.nasa.gov/juno.
Gravity Science co-investigator Bill Folkner explains how understanding Jupiter's inner structure depends on measuring changes in its gravitational field.
Credit: NASA/JPL/SwRIInterior of Jupiter theoriesNASAJuno2013-01-08 | Find out more at http://missionjuno.swri.edu and http://www.nasa.gov/juno.
These two animations show simplified models of how material could be arranged on the inside of the planet Jupiter.
The first part visualizes the motion of the planet's east-west flowing cloud bands as being firmly rooted to the deep interior. The second part visualizes four discrete layers of planet's interior: a weather layer (where clouds are present), a well-mixed gaseous hydrogen/helium envelope, a deep ocean of liquid metallic hydrogen, and a possible solid core of heavy elements. Juno's investigation of Jupiter's deep interior from orbit will help improve our understanding of what the interior actually is like.
Credit: NASA/JPL-CaltechJupiter Cloud Movie from CassiniNASAJuno2013-01-08 | When the Cassini spacecraft flew past Jupiter in late 2000 en route to Saturn, it took a sequence of images of the planet and its flowing cloud bands. This image sequence was assembled to create the movie seen here.
Original caption From NASA Goddard Science Visualization Studio:
"When the Cassini mission flew by the planet Jupiter in late 2000, a sequence of full disk images were taken of the planet. Assembled with proper spatial and temporal registration, the sequence could produce fourteen distinct images suitable for wrapping around a sphere.
But the time steps between images were large and exhibited significant jumping. The solution was to create additional images between the existing set by interpolation. But simple interpolation would not work due to significant changes between the images.
To solve this, we interpolated between the images using the velocity vector field of the cloud images. The velocity vector field was computed by performing a 2-dimensional cross-correlation (Wikipedia: Cross-correlation) between the images. This velocity field was checked against Jupiter velocity profiles from the scientific literature and agreement was excellent. With the addition of a simple vortex flow at the location of the Great Red Spot, the interpolation process was used to generate intermediate images, increasing the total number of images from 14 to 220 and resulting in a smoother animation."
Credit: NASA/JPL/GSFC/University of Arizona/Cosmos Studios
Original source: http://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a000000/a003600/a003610Beneath the Surface: Jupiter, Lightning and Invisible LightsNASAJuno2012-01-21 | Jupiter has enormous lightning-filled storms, and NASA's Juno mission to Jupiter will (among many other things) help us understand how deep into this cloud-covered planet the storms go.
Dan Goods, Visual Strategist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, created this installation which consists of a large cloud that hides infrared lights. Infrared light is invisible to the naked eye, but is visible to many cell phone cameras. Just as the Juno mission uses special detectors to peer through the clouds of Jupiter and reveal the depths of its storms, you can "see" lightning storms underneath this dynamic surface.
Beneath the Surface will travel to museums around the country.
Special thanks to Justin Gier (technology development), Jeremy Eichenbaum (video and editing), and Trenton McElhinney (music).
Find out more about Juno at http://missionjuno.swri.edu and http://www.nasa.gov/juno.Beneath the Surface: Underneath the ExhibitNASAJuno2012-01-21 | Dan Goods, Visual Strategist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, created this installation which consists of a large cloud that hides infrared lights. Infrared light is invisible to the naked eye, but is visible to many cell phone cameras. Just as the Juno mission uses special detectors to peer through the clouds of Jupiter and reveal the depths of its storms, you can "see" lightning storms underneath this dynamic surface.
The cloud is created using regular tap water which is turned into a very dry mist by ultrasonic misters. The tiny ceramic discs vibrate so fast that they vaporize that water. Small computer controlled fans blow the fog around the room. In addition, computer-controlled infrared security camera lights are synched to the sounds of thunder and lightning.
Beneath the Surface will travel to museums around the country.
Special thanks to Justin Gier (technology development), Jeremy Eichenbaum (video and editing), and Trenton McElhinney (music).
This animation shows the orbit of NASA's Juno spacecraft with respect to the giant planet's radiation belts.
The space around Jupiter is filled with electrically charged atomic particles -- electrons, protons and ions. (The bulk of this material comes from volcanoes on Jupiter's moon Io.) These particles feel the force of Jupiter's powerful magnetic field and move in response to it. Some of the particles, mainly the electrons, are accelerated to nearly the speed of light.
Even though electrons are incredibly small and have almost no mass, there are a lot of them, moving very fast, and thus they pack a huge amount of energy. This high-energy charged particle radiation is concentrated in belts around the planet's equator. The radiation can damage electronics, and thus it poses a hazard for any spacecraft visiting Jupiter.
Over about 15 months, Juno will make 33 orbits around the giant planet's poles, coming to within 3100 miles (5000 kilometers) of Jupiter's cloud tops every 11 days. This special orbit allows Juno to get very close to the planet while avoiding the most intense regions of radiation.
To a stationary observer, the radiation belts appear to wobble back and forth over the course of a Jovian day (about 10 hours). This is because Jupiter's magnetic axis is offset from its rotational axis.
Juno will arrive at Jupiter in July 2016.
Credit: NASA/JPLSimulation of What Juno Will See From Jupiter OrbitNASAJuno2011-08-04 | This animation shows how Jupiter will appear to the camera onboard NASA's Juno mission, called JunoCam, as the spacecraft goes through an orbit. Juno will circle Jupiter every 11 days from an elliptical orbit. During the majority of this orbit, the spacecraft is at a large distance from the planet, so Jupiter will appear quite small in JunoCam's wide field of view.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSSJuno Jupiter orbit animation (north pole view)NASAJuno2011-07-29 | Find out more at http://missionjuno.swri.edu and http://www.nasa.gov/juno.
This animation depicts the orbit of NASA's Juno spacecraft at Jupiter in 2016 and 2017. Over about 15 months, Juno makes 33 orbits around the giant planet's poles, coming to within 3100 miles (5000 kilometers) of Jupiter's cloud tops every 11 days.
The view in this sequence shows Juno's successive passes around Jupiter from a stationary point of view above the planet's north pole; the direction of the sun is up.
Credit: NASA/JPLJuno orbit web animationNASAJuno2011-07-29 | Find out more at http://missionjuno.swri.edu and http://www.nasa.gov/juno.
This animation depicts the orbit of NASA's Juno spacecraft at Jupiter in 2016 and 2017. Over about 15 months, Juno makes 33 orbits around the giant planet's poles, coming to within 3100 miles (5000 kilometers) of Jupiter's cloud tops every 11 days.
The movie shows how repeated passes allow Juno to map the entire planet over the course of the mission. Jupiter rotates every 10 hours, and Juno's 11-day-long orbit is timed so that during each close approach, the spacecraft flies over a different swath of the planet. By the end of the mission, Juno's accumulated coverage wraps Jupiter in a web with lines spaced 12 degrees apart around the planet.
Green and blue orbit lines indicate different science activities that are the focus of those orbits (gravity science or microwave radiometry, respectively). The yellow-colored orbit is a final pass held in reserve for additional science activities, and the red orbit represents the de-orbit into Jupiter at the conclusion of the science mission.
Credit: NASA/JPLJuno Mission overview: Unlocking Jupiters MysteriesNASAJuno2011-07-28 | Find out more at http://missionjuno.swri.edu and http://www.nasa.gov/juno.
What will NASA's Juno mission learn at Jupiter? Find out in this mission overview video produced by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
JPL manages the Juno mission for principal investigator Scott Bolton. The Juno mission is part of the New Frontiers Program managed at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala. Lockheed Martin Space Systems of Denver built the spacecraft. Launch management for the mission is the responsibility of NASA's Launch Services Program at the agency's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena.
Credit: NASA/JPL-CaltechJuno spacecraft Jupiter arrival animationNASAJuno2011-07-28 | Find out more at http://missionjuno.swri.edu and http://www.nasa.gov/juno.
NASA's Juno spacecraft is scheduled to arrive at the giant planet Jupiter in July 2016 following a five-year trek. As the spacecraft nears the planet it executes a series of maneuvers to prepare for Jupiter orbit insertion. First, the spacecraft opens its main engine cover. Then Juno uses thrusters to re-orient itself so that its main engine points in the direction the spacecraft is moving. Juno's thrusters then fire to increase the spacecraft's rate of spin from 2 rotations per minute to 5 rotations per minute; the faster rate of rotation makes Juno more stable during the engine burn to come.
Juno fires its main engine for about 30 minutes to slow down and allow Jupiter's gravity to capture the speeding spacecraft into orbit. Following the engine burn, Juno decreases its rate of spin and points its giant solar arrays back toward the sun and Earth (which at Jupiter's location appear close together in the sky). At this point the spacecraft will be successfully in orbit around the giant world.Juno spacecraft trajectory animationNASAJuno2011-07-14 | Find out more at http://missionjuno.swri.edu and http://www.nasa.gov/juno.
The Juno spacecraft is scheduled to depart from Earth in August 2011. The spacecraft travels around the Sun, to a point beyond the orbit of Mars where it fires its main engine a couple of times. These deep space maneuvers set up the Earth flyby maneuver that occurs approximately two years after launch. The Earth flyby gives Juno the boost in velocity it needs to coast all the way to Jupiter. Juno arrives at Jupiter in July 2016.
Credit: NASA/JPL/SwRIJuno spacecraft Earth flyby animationNASAJuno2011-07-13 | Find out more at http://missionjuno.swri.edu and http://www.nasa.gov/juno.
The Juno spacecraft returns to Earth about two years after launch for a flyby gravity assist maneuver. The Earth flyby gives Juno the boost in velocity it needs to coast all the way to Jupiter. Juno arrives at Jupiter in July 2016.
Credit: NASA/JPL/SwRIJuno de-orbit animationNASAJuno2011-07-13 | Find out more at http://missionjuno.swri.edu and http://www.nasa.gov/juno.
After more than a year orbiting Jupiter, Juno's science mission will be complete. The Juno spacecraft will then be commanded to dive into Jupiter's atmosphere where it will burn up like a meteor. Juno will become part of the planet it has studied.
After 33 orbits passing through Jupiter's radiation belts, the spacecraft will have received a large dose of radiation, and more radiation would eventually cause its systems to fail. So the spacecraft is de-orbited to meet the planetary protection requirement set by NASA.
Credit: NASA/JPL/SwRIJuno spacecraft launch animationNASAJuno2011-07-13 | Find out more at http://missionjuno.swri.edu and http://www.nasa.gov/juno.
This animation depicts the launch of NASA's Juno spacecraft on its mission to Jupiter. Juno is scheduled for launch in August 2011 from Cape Canaveral, Florida.
Credit: NASA/JPL/SwRIJuno solar array deployment animationNASAJuno2011-07-11 | Find out more at http://missionjuno.swri.edu and http://www.nasa.gov/juno.
This animation depicts NASA's Juno spacecraft minutes after it separates from its launch vehicle. In the darkness of Earth's shadow, Juno deploys its three massive solar arrays. The sun appears above the horizon and power from the sun streams into the spacecraft for the first time.
What can studying Jupiter with the Juno mission tell us about where we come from?
Credit: NASA/JPL/SwRIWhats in a Name?NASAJuno2011-07-01 | Find out more at http://missionjuno.swri.edu and http://www.nasa.gov/juno.
How did NASA's Juno mission get its name? Principal investigator Scott Bolton explains.
Credit: NASA/JPL/SwRIThe Weather of JupiterNASAJuno2011-07-01 | Find out more at http://missionjuno.swri.edu and http://www.nasa.gov/juno.
What's the weather like on the solar system's largest planet, and what will Juno tell us about it?
Credit: NASA/JPL/SwRIThe Interior of JupiterNASAJuno2011-07-01 | Find out more at http://missionjuno.swri.edu and http://www.nasa.gov/juno.
If we can't visit Jupiter's deep interior, even with robotic probes, how can we hope to understand what this gas giant planet is like on the inside? What's more, why should we care what's down there?
Credit: NASA/JPL/SwRIThe Great Red SpotNASAJuno2011-07-01 | Find out more at http://missionjuno.swri.edu and http://www.nasa.gov/juno.
What do we know about Jupiter's most prominent feature? Is it a hurricane, or something else?
Getting a spacecraft ready to travel to Jupiter is an incredibly complex task. What are some of the ways in which engineers prepared Juno for its trip? (Hint: Juno takes lots and lots of tests...)
Credit: NASA/JPL/SwRISpacecraft DesignNASAJuno2011-06-30 | Find out more at http://missionjuno.swri.edu and http://www.nasa.gov/juno.
How did NASA scientists and engineers arrive at the spinning, solar powered design of the Juno spacecraft?
Credit: NASA/JPL/SwRISolar Power For JunoNASAJuno2011-06-30 | Find out more at http://missionjuno.swri.edu and http://www.nasa.gov/juno.
Other missions to the outer planets have used radioisotope power systems (a type of nuclear technology). So why did the Juno team choose solar power? What challenges did the mission face in creating the first solar powered mission to Jupiter?
Credit: NASA/JPL/SwRIPlanetary Protection and JunoNASAJuno2011-06-29 | Find out more at http://missionjuno.swri.edu and http://www.nasa.gov/juno.
Once its mission is complete, the Juno spacecraft will be commanded to dive into Jupiter's atmosphere burn up in Jupiter's atmosphere. Why dispose of a spacecraft in this way? The answer has something to do with icy moons and the search for life beyond Earth.
Credit: NASA/JPL/SwRIJupiters RingsNASAJuno2011-06-29 | Find out more at http://missionjuno.swri.edu and http://www.nasa.gov/juno about Jupiter and NASA's Juno mission.
Jupiter has its own set of faint, dusty rings. The rings will not be a focus of study for Juno, but do they pose any threat to the spacecraft as it passes near them?
Credit: NASA/JPL/SwRIJupiters MagnetosphereNASAJuno2011-06-29 | Find out more at http://missionjuno.swri.edu and http://www.nasa.gov/juno.
Jupiter's magnetic field is the largest structure in the solar system. But what IS a magnetosphere, and why study Jupiter's?
Credit: NASA/JPL/SwRIJupiters AurorasNASAJuno2011-06-28 | Find out more at http://missionjuno.swri.edu and http://www.nasa.gov/juno.
Jupiter has northern and southern lights like Earth does, only Jupiter's are WAY more powerful. What causes Jupiter's auroras and why are they interesting to scientists on NASA's Juno mission?
Juno's unique polar orbit is the key to the mission's design. What's so special about it?
Credit: NASA/JPL/SwRIJunos Fault ProtectionNASAJuno2011-06-28 | Find out more at http://missionjuno.swri.edu and http://www.nasa.gov/juno.
What if Juno encounters trouble when it is millions of miles from home? Before a spacecraft leaves Earth, engineers plan for almost every problem -- or fault -- they can think of, and they program the spacecraft to take appropriate actions on its own. Sometimes that means Juno needs to call home for instructions. Engineers refer to this planning as "fault protection."
Credit: NASA/JPL/SwRIJunos CommunicationsNASAJuno2011-06-28 | Find out more at http://missionjuno.swri.edu and http://www.nasa.gov/juno.
How do we communicate with a spacecraft that is orbiting Jupiter, millions of miles away from Earth? And how does Juno let us know if it encounters a problem?