Washington: NASA is poised to launch a one billion dollar solar powered spacecraft called Juno on a five year journey to Jupiter on Friday, in search of what makes up the solar system's biggest planet. The unmanned satellite observatory is set to propel into space aboard an Atlas 4 rocket, blasting off from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida 1534 GMT (2004 IST).Just under an hour after launch, Juno "will separate from the Centaur upper stage of its Atlas V rocket. At this point, Jupiter will be five years and 2,800 million kilometres away," the US space agency said.Once it arrives in July 2016, the spacecraft will orbit the poles of the gas giant, which has more than twice the mass of all planets in the solar system combined and is believed to be the first planet that took shape around the Sun.The USD 1.1 billion mission aims for 30 orbits over a period of one year. Juno aims to get closer to Jupiter than any other NASA spacecraft and will be the first to undertake a polar orbit of the planet, said Scott Bolton, Juno principal investigator and scientist at the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio, Texas. Read Full : NASA now goes to Jupiter - Hindustan Times
Monday, 8 August 2011
NASA now goes to Jupiter - Hindustan Times
Washington: NASA is poised to launch a one billion dollar solar powered spacecraft called Juno on a five year journey to Jupiter on Friday, in search of what makes up the solar system's biggest planet. The unmanned satellite observatory is set to propel into space aboard an Atlas 4 rocket, blasting off from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida 1534 GMT (2004 IST).Just under an hour after launch, Juno "will separate from the Centaur upper stage of its Atlas V rocket. At this point, Jupiter will be five years and 2,800 million kilometres away," the US space agency said.Once it arrives in July 2016, the spacecraft will orbit the poles of the gas giant, which has more than twice the mass of all planets in the solar system combined and is believed to be the first planet that took shape around the Sun.The USD 1.1 billion mission aims for 30 orbits over a period of one year. Juno aims to get closer to Jupiter than any other NASA spacecraft and will be the first to undertake a polar orbit of the planet, said Scott Bolton, Juno principal investigator and scientist at the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio, Texas. Read Full : NASA now goes to Jupiter - Hindustan Times