{"id":39740,"date":"2013-10-09T19:25:19","date_gmt":"2013-10-09T11:25:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/juno-slingshot-spacecraft-zips-past-earth-en-route-to-jupiter\/"},"modified":"2013-10-09T19:25:19","modified_gmt":"2013-10-09T11:25:19","slug":"juno-slingshot-spacecraft-zips-past-earth-en-route-to-jupiter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/juno-slingshot-spacecraft-zips-past-earth-en-route-to-jupiter\/","title":{"rendered":"Juno slingshot \u2013 Spacecraft zips past Earth en route to Jupiter"},"content":{"rendered":"

NASA\u2019s Juno spacecraft performed a close gravity assist flyby of the Earth on Wednesday, aiding its five-year journey to Jupiter. Earth\u2019s gravity accelerating assist for the solar-powered spacecraft will result in increasing its velocity by 16,330 miles per hour, en route to studying Jupiter\u2019s atmosphere as a means of better understanding how the planet, and by extension, the solar system originated and evolved.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Juno Mission:<\/p>\n

Riding atop the second most powerful configuration for the Atlas V rocket, the Juno mission lifted off at 12:25 EDT on 5 August 2011 \u2013 after a 51 minute delay for a technical issue and a boat in the launch restriction zone.<\/p>\n

Since launch, Juno has traveled approximately 221 million miles and has achieved a velocity of 55,800 miles per hour relative to the sun.<\/p>\n

\"A41\"Named after the Roman goddess of marriage and the wife of the god Jupiter, the Juno mission is the second mission in NASA\u2019s New Frontiers program \u2013 the first being the New Horizons probe currently on its way to an encounter with Pluto and its moons in July 2015.<\/p>\n

The spacecraft made its first of three Mars orbit crossings on December 13 in anticipation for its August 2016 arrival at Jupiter after a five year trek through the inner and outer solar system.<\/p>\n

However, before it reaches its destination, Juno had to greet the Earth one last time, performing a flyby, passing within 347 miles of Earth.<\/p>\n

NASA mission updates<\/path>NASA educational resources<\/path>Space tourism guides<\/path>\n

(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});<\/p>\n

The flyby functions as a gravity assist for Juno, with Earth\u2019s gravity accelerating the solar-powered spacecraft\u2019s velocity by 16,330 miles per hour. The purpose of using a gravity assist to get Juno on its way to Jupiter is one of cost.<\/p>\n

\"Z3\"\u201cA direct mission to Jupiter would have required about 50 percent more fuel than we loaded,\u201d said Tim Gasparrini, Juno program manager for Lockheed Martin Space Systems. \u201cHad we not chosen to do the flyby, the mission would have required a bigger launch vehicle, a larger spacecraft and would have been more expensive.\u201d<\/p>\n

While NASA\u2019s Jet Propulsion Laboratory has the role of providing the critical navigation for the mission and the flyby, Lockheed Martin\u2019s Juno team is also playing an active and varied role.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile flying Juno is a team effort, the core operations are in Denver,\u201d added Gasparrini. \u201cWe are responsible for systems engineering, subsystem performance and execution of the commanding that goes to the Juno spacecraft. During the flyby, the team will be monitoring the spacecraft because gravity is doing all the work.\u201d<\/p>\n

In preparation, most of the commanding was folded into a 28-day background sequence, and most of the sequences began on September 27.<\/p>\n

One major challenge related to ensuring Juno found a clear path, given its trajectory involved passing well inside the orbit of Geostationary (GEO) satellites.<\/p>\n

See Also<\/h4>\n