Tag: Jet Propulsion Laboratory
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Juno gets its closest look at Jupiter
Updated with details from NASA press release. Jupiter’s north polar region is coming into view as NASA’s Juno spacecraft approaches the giant planet. This view of Jupiter was taken on August 27, when Juno was 437,000 miles (703,000 kilometers) away.Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS Nearly two months after NASA’s Juno spacecraft slipped into orbit around Jupiter, the solar-powered…
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NASA spells out support for SpaceX’s Red Dragon Mars mission
Artist’s concept of SpaceX’s Red Dragon spacecraft entering the Martian atmosphere. Credit: SpaceX If SpaceX is able to dispatch a robotic Dragon capsule to land on the red planet in 2018 on time and successfully, engineers stand to get a lesson on what it will take to eventually send humans there, capturing key data on…
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Researchers eager for Juno’s first chance for Jupiter science
Animation of Juno 14-day Orbits Starting in late 2016. Juno is currently in an even larger 53-day orbit. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech NASA’s Juno spacecraft fine-tuned its orbit around Jupiter this week, helping steer the spinning space probe on a course to dip beneath the giant planet’s radiation belts in late August for the first time with…
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Juno spacecraft braves the unknown at Jupiter to enter orbit
NASA’s Juno spacecraft, spinning once every 12 seconds for stability, fired its main engine for more than 35 minutes Monday to brake into orbit around Jupiter. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech Setting up post at the king of planets, NASA’s Juno spacecraft fired its main engine for 35 minutes Monday, steering into orbit around Jupiter to peer inside…
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See Jupiter’s Galilean moons in motion from Juno’s camera
Juno’s visible camera had a bird’s-eye view of Jupiter’s four largest moons over the last few weeks, recording the satellites in their orbital ballet around the giant planet as the spacecraft approached from above Jupiter’s north pole. Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto — Jupiter’s four Galilean moons listed from the innermost to outermost — were…
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Scientists on edge awaiting Juno’s perilous encounter with Jupiter
This artist’s concept shows Juno’s approach path toward Jupiter for the July 4 insertion maneuver. Jupiter’s intense radiation belts are also illustrated here. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech Speeding toward Jupiter at nearly 40 miles per second, NASA’s Juno spacecraft must brave a field of computer-zapping radiation and Jupiter’s tenuous ring of ice and dust particles when it…
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NASA’s Juno mission is about to peel back the layers on Jupiter
A version of this story was originally published in Astronomy Now magazine. NASA’s Juno spacecraft, seen here in an artist’s illustration, will become the second mission to orbit the solar system’s king planet. Credit: Lockheed Martin Whether you’re a casual stargazer or armed with a toolkit of observing gadgets, chances are you have caught a…
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Pluto probe’s extended mission approved, but new Dawn destination denied
Artist’s concept of the New Horizons spacecraft’s encounter with a Kuiper Belt object. Credit: NASA/JHUAPL/SWRI/Alex Parker NASA managers formally approved the New Horizons mission another speedy encounter with an object at the frontier of the solar system, but denied a request from scientists to redirect the Dawn spacecraft to visit a third destination in the…
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Juno switched to autopilot mode for Jupiter final approach
Artist’s concept of the Juno spacecraft at Jupiter. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech Four days out from arriving at the solar system’s biggest planet, NASA’s Juno spacecraft received a final uplink of commands Thursday governing the robotic probe’s high-velocity braking maneuver Monday to steer into orbit around Jupiter. Juno will run on autopilot for the rest of its…
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NASA must decide soon on Dawn mission’s next act
Artist’s concept of the Dawn spacecraft, with its ion propulsion system active, in orbit around the dwarf planet Ceres. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/MPS/DLR/IDA NASA managers face a July 12 deadline to decide whether to send the Dawn spacecraft on an unplanned visit to a third object in the asteroid belt or keep the probe at dwarf planet…