Around Jupiter, Juno exploration mission will start! – Point

The world of astronomy is abuzz. Almost five years after leaving Earth, on 5 August 2011, the Juno probe, which has traveled 2.7 billion kilometers with the aim to put in orbit around Jupiter, has successfully completed its integration. The event is rare because, although five probes have already flown over the gas giant, Juno will be the second after Galileo in 1995 to stay permanently in the vicinity of the gas giant.

Tuesday, July 5, 2016 is marking a milestone, especially as the task of the American probe was nothing obvious. Mission officials had said Monday the risks to the probe also approaching near. They cited the hydrogen layer – 90% of the atmosphere – that undergoes such pressure that it acts as a powerful electrical conductor. This, combined with the rapid rotation of Jupiter, generates a powerful magnetic field that surrounds the planet and can threaten Juno. In addition to the radiation, the ship also had to cross a debris belt. She is now positioned as the probe is in position to try to unravel the mysteries of the largest planet in the solar system.

“We are around Jupiter”

The ship 3.6 t, powered by solar energy, has turned its main engine for 35 minutes to slow his race. He was able to get sucked into the gravity of Jupiter and fit into a polar orbit of 53.5 days. A signal from the ship received Tuesday at 3 pm GMT 53 (20 h 53 Monday, California time) indicated the end of the maneuver, causing a thunderous applause in the control room. “We are around Jupiter”, welcomed Scott Bolton, chief scientist of the mission at Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio (Texas), without concealing a certain nervousness.

Because of some 869 million kilometers that separate it from Earth, radio signals confirming the success of the orbit insertion have 48 minutes to reach the control center. Scott Bolton said earlier Monday at a press conference: “We definitely know if it’s a success when Juno will be returned to point its three large solar antennas towards the Sun,” which it depends for its energy, or to 4: 30 pm GMT. Juno, a mission at a cost of $ 1.1 billion, will then concentrate on its primary mission to study Jupiter.

After two revolutions of 53.5 days Juno place from October 2016 in an orbit of 14 days will graze him successively the two poles of the planet hidden under a thick cloud layer. The sensor must make 37 flybys, mostly between 10 000 and 4667 kilometers above the clouds of the giant planet, for a total of 20 months. Juno overflights will be much closer than the previous record by 43 000 km established by the American probe Pioneer 11 in 1974.

While the approaches to Jupiter, the instruments of the probe will study its gigantic aurora borealis, its atmosphere, its magnetosphere and its huge red spot. One of the main objectives of the mission will be to better understand what is made inside hitherto unobserved, the giant planet. Juno will map the gravitational and magnetic fields of Jupiter and to determine the internal structure. The new instruments of the orbiter, including French and Italian, will also measure the radiometric emission from the deep atmosphere of the planet, which will reveal its composition, its thermal structure and ionized environment.

Probing the core of the gas giant

“Today we do not know whether or not Jupiter has a central core,” noted last week Tristan Guillot, Director research at the National Centre for scientific research (CNRS) and french member of the scientific team of the mission. Not only Juno help uncover Jupiter’s secrets, but should also provide new clues about the conditions at the beginning of the solar system.

To protect against high radiation, Juno is equipped a solid titanium armor that surrounds its electronic equipment and instruments, a trip computer and electric wiring. Weighing 172 kilos, this protection will reduce radiation exposure – the equivalent of a million radios to the dentist – 800 times compared to the unprotected part. Juno also has on board three Lego figurines aluminum. They represent Jupiter, king of the gods in Roman mythology, Juno (Juno), his wife and his sister, and Galileo, the Italian scientist who discovered the four large moons of Jupiter in 1609. What scrutinize the greatest planet of the solar system in good company!