VIDEO – US probe into orbit the giant planet Tuesday morning. The main objective of the mission is to determine the amount of water contained by Jupiter.
After five years of travel in the solar system, Juno can finally get to work. At 5 am 18 this morning, the American probe was to begin a 35-minute braking procedure to enter orbit around Jupiter. About the size of a basketball court, this sort of boomerang three blades rotating on itself is launched nearly 200,000 km / h (relative to the Earth) and must slow down to remain trapped in the gravitational field the largest planet in the solar system. The probe will then perform 37 times around the globe via the poles. Every 14 days in October, it will approach the nearest, at 4,000 km from the cover area, covering all 18 months by these close flybys.
Ce is not the first time that an object made by man visits Jupiter, but this is the first time we are also in close approaches as long (before overwriting them ). The previous record was held by the Pioneer 11 probe which was “grazed” by passing 34,000 km in 1974. Eight probes have crossed paths with this giant planet, but only one was placed in orbit Galileo between 1995 and 2003. She had dropped a small atmospheric probe that had disintegrated after being down 400 km in its thick atmosphere but failed to convincingly determine the amount of water it contained.
This will be the main objective of Juno. This is a fundamental parameter for understanding the formation of the solar system as a whole, because Jupiter alone contains more material than all the rest of the planets asteroids and comets together (except the Sun ). The main instrument of the probe and a radiometer that should be able to probe the deeper layers of the atmosphere. “Nobody knows if it will work, it is a wonderful and great risk taking, analysis Olivier Mousis, researcher at the Astrophysics Laboratory of Marseille. It will be very difficult to separate the steam from ammonia in the signal. I hope they will get there. “In other words, NASA is currently conducting a bet over a billion dollars.
On Monday, Scott Bolton, chief scientist of the mission at the Southwest Research Institute, even told a news conference: “We are in uncharted waters,” and refused to quantify the chances of mission success.
Juno destroyed in 2018. it will plunge into the gas giant where it will disintegrate under the pressure effect
the two main technical challenges, besides the radio instrument, consisted in protecting the probe of electrically charged particles that travel close to the planet. All electronics are enclosed in a safe and titanium over a centimeter thick. As the probe is very far from the Sun, giant solar panels of nearly 30 meters, which give it its scope had to be made to ensure equipment 400 W power (half a toaster!) They needs to operate, without using a nuclear reactor. “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, said Scott Bolton.
Juno will be destroyed in 2018 . it will plunge into the gas giant where it will disintegrate under the pressure effect. This is the safest way to ensure that it does not pollute its bacteria icy moons of Jupiter that are now the best candidates in search of extraterrestrial life (see below) . By then, Juno should have time to study the internal structure of the planet (presence or absence of a solid core) and to draw up a precise map of its magnetic field, two other important goals set by Nasa to to better understand our neighboring giant.
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