Hoisting Solar Powered Juno atop most powerful Atlas RocketAt Space Launch Complex 41, a crane is lowered over the nose of the Atlas payload fairing enclosing the Juno spacecraft in preparation for its lift to the top of the Atlas rocket stacked in the Vertical Integration Facility. Juno is scheduled to launch Aug. 5 aboard the most powerful ever United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. The solar-powered spacecraft will orbit Jupiter's poles 33 times to find out more about the gas giant's origins, structure, atmosphere and magnetosphere and investigate the existence of a solid planetary core. Credit: NASA/Cory Huston
In less than one week’s time, NASA’s $1.1 Billion Juno probe will blast off on the most powerful Atlas V rocket ever built and embark on a five year cruise to Jupiter where it will seek to elucidate the mysteries of the birth and evolution of our solar system’s largest planet and how that knowledge applies to the remaining planets.
The stage was set for Juno’s liftoff on August 5 at 11:34 a.m. after the solar-powered spacecraft was mated atop the Atlas V rocket at Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral and firmly bolted in place at 10:42 a.m. EDT on July 27.
“We’re about to start our journey to Jupiter to unlock the secrets of the early solar system,” said Scott Bolton, the mission’s principal investigator from the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio. “After eight years of development, the spacecraft is ready for its important mission.”
Inside the Vertical Integration Facility at Space Launch Complex 41, the Juno spacecraft, enclosed in an Atlas payload fairing, is in position on top of its Atlas launch vehicle. The spacecraft was prepared for launch in the Astrotech Space Operations' payload processing facility in Titusville, Fla. Credit: NASA/Cory HustonThe launch window for Juno extends from Aug. 5 through Aug. 26. The launch time on Aug. 5 opens at 11:34 a.m. EDT and closes at 12:43 p.m. EDT. Juno is the second mission in NASA’s New Frontiers program.
JUNO’s three giant solar panels will unfurl about five minutes after payload separation following the launch, said Jan Chodas, Juno’s project manager at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, Calif.
The probe will cartwheel through space during its five year trek to Jupiter.
Upon arrival in July 2016, JUNO will fire its braking rockets and go into polar orbit and circle Jupiter 33 times over about one year. The goal is to find out more about the planets origins, interior structure and atmosphere, observe the aurora, map the intense magnetic field and investigate the existence of a solid planetary core.
Hoisting Juno inside the payload fairing at Space Launch Complex 41. Credit: NASA/Cory Huston“Juno will become the first polar orbiting spacecraft at Jupiter. Not only are we over the poles, but we’re getting closer to Jupiter in our orbit than any other spacecraft has gone,” Bolton elaborated at a briefing for reporters at the Kennedy Space Center. “We’re only 5,000 kilometers above the cloud tops and so we’re skimming right over those cloud tops and we’re actually dipping down beneath the radiation belts, which is a very important thing for us. Because those radiation belts at Jupiter are the most hazardous region in the entire solar system other than going right to the sun itself.”
“Jupiter probably formed first. It’s the largest of all the planets and in fact it’s got more material in it than all the rest of the solar system combined. If I took everything in the solar system except the sun, it could all fit inside Jupiter. So we want to know the recipe.”
Watch for my continuing updates and on-site launch coverage of Juno, only the 2nd probe from Earth to ever orbit Jupiter. Galileo was the first.
Tagged as: Atlas V, Juno mission, Jupiter, radiation, solar power, Solar System, Space Exploration
NASA Water Cannon Salute to recovery of the Last Shuttle SRB’s
Freedom Star hauls in the very last spent Shuttle Solid Rocket Booster from the Atlantic Ocean to Port Canaveral. Credit: Ken Kremer 
NASA Water Cannon Tribute to recovery of the Last Shuttle SRB’s
Liberty Star tows last SRB’s past humongous Cruise Ships at Port Canaveral. Credit: Ken Kremer 
Freedom Star and last SRB pass through last drawbridge on the way to the Port Canaveral locks a few yards away. Credit: Ken Kremer 
Liberty Star tows spent Solid Rocket Booster alongside throngs of spectators in pleasure boats. Credit: Ken Kremer 
Liberty Star enters Port Canaverl jetty with Atlantis right SRB in tow from Atlantic Ocean. Credit: Ken Kremer 
Atlantis right SRB towed into Port Canaveral. Credit: Ken Kremer 
Rear view of last SRB towing from Jetty Park Pier. Credit: Ken Kremer 
Rear view of last SRB towing from Jetty Park Pier. Credit: Ken Kremer 
Hoards of spectators watch towing of Atlantis right SRB. Credit: Ken Kremer 
Liberty Star tows SRB through the locks at Port Canaveral as the public freely watches this fantastic space show from a few feet away. Notice the 5000 pound frustrum on the deck which houses the parachutes at the top of the booster. Credit: Ken Kremer
Recovery team at work on spent Solid Rocket Booster at Port Canaveral. Credit: Ken Kremer
Lucky photojournalists covering the ocean retrieval of the very last Space Shuttle Solid Rocket Booster in history (Ken Kremer 3rd from right) as Atlantis’ left side SRB passes through the locks at Port Canaveral. Credit: Ken Kremer