Nasa's Juno spacecraft becomes 'fastest object ever made' during mission to Jupiter

[ScienceRocks]

Nasa's Juno spacecraft becomes 'fastest object ever made' during mission to Jupiter

Source: International Business Times

Nasa's Juno spacecraft has become the fastest object ever made by humanity after clocking in speeds of over 160,000mph during its five-year voyage to Jupiter, the biggest planet in our solar system. Next month, on 4 July, the Juno probe will decelerate in orbit around the gas giant to probe a rich atmosphere that is thousands of times thicker than Earth's, in order to find out more about the mysterious planet.

Launched in 2011, Juno is the first solar-powered spacecraft that is made to operate at such a great distance from the Sun. According to Nasa, the four-tonne probe carries three 30ft (9m) solar arrays and nearly 20,000 individual solar cells to power it during its journey.

Nasa says the goal of the mission is to "understand the origin and evolution of Jupiter, look for a solid planetary core, map its magnetic field, measure water and ammonia in deep atmosphere and observe its auroras".

Chris Lintott, professor of astrophysics at Oxford University and presenter of the BBC's The Sky at Night programme, told The Sunday Times: "Juno's mission is to help us understand how Jupiter formed and thus what happened in the early days of the solar system 4.5bn years ago. For example, pinning down the amount of water in the atmosphere might show whether Jupiter began life as a rocky planet like Earth, or collapsed directly , rather like a star."

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Read more: Nasa's Juno spacecraft just became the fastest object ever made


Nasa is one of the greatest organizations humanity has ever put together. Makes me proud to be American. HOw many nations can do this? Not very many.

 

[saveliberty]

Maybe I missed it, but I doubt a solar powered spacecraft can propel itself at those speeds. I assume Jupiter's gravity is responsible?

 

[ScienceRocks]

Maybe I missed it, but I doubt a solar powered spacecraft can propel itself at those speeds. I assume Jupiter's gravity is responsible?

Juno's trajectory used a gravity assist speed boost from Earth, accomplished through an Earth flyby two years (October 2013) after its August 5, 2011 launch.[10] In July 2016, the spacecraft will perform an orbit insertion burn to slow the spacecraft enough to allow capture into a 14-day polar orbit.Juno (spacecraft) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Using earths gravity

 

[saveliberty]

Maybe I missed it, but I doubt a solar powered spacecraft can propel itself at those speeds. I assume Jupiter's gravity is responsible?

Juno's trajectory used a gravity assist speed boost from Earth, accomplished through an Earth flyby two years (October 2013) after its August 5, 2011 launch.[10] In July 2016, the spacecraft will perform an orbit insertion burn to slow the spacecraft enough to allow capture into a 14-day polar orbit.Juno (spacecraft) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Using earths gravity

I understand the initial slingshot type gravity assist from Earth at the start, but the would not increase over time. At some point Jupiter would have the greater pull.

 

[Dale Smith]

Maybe I missed it, but I doubt a solar powered spacecraft can propel itself at those speeds. I assume Jupiter's gravity is responsible?

Juno's trajectory used a gravity assist speed boost from Earth, accomplished through an Earth flyby two years (October 2013) after its August 5, 2011 launch.[10] In July 2016, the spacecraft will perform an orbit insertion burn to slow the spacecraft enough to allow capture into a 14-day polar orbit.Juno (spacecraft) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Using earths gravity

If da gubermint claims that...we must believe it....da gubermint would never lie...not ever!!!!

 

[saveliberty]

Maybe I missed it, but I doubt a solar powered spacecraft can propel itself at those speeds. I assume Jupiter's gravity is responsible?

Juno's trajectory used a gravity assist speed boost from Earth, accomplished through an Earth flyby two years (October 2013) after its August 5, 2011 launch.[10] In July 2016, the spacecraft will perform an orbit insertion burn to slow the spacecraft enough to allow capture into a 14-day polar orbit.Juno (spacecraft) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Using earths gravity

If da gubermint claims that...we must believe it....da gubermint would never lie...not ever!!!!

I know gravity never lies.

 

[Dale Smith]

Maybe I missed it, but I doubt a solar powered spacecraft can propel itself at those speeds. I assume Jupiter's gravity is responsible?

Juno's trajectory used a gravity assist speed boost from Earth, accomplished through an Earth flyby two years (October 2013) after its August 5, 2011 launch.[10] In July 2016, the spacecraft will perform an orbit insertion burn to slow the spacecraft enough to allow capture into a 14-day polar orbit.Juno (spacecraft) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Using earths gravity

If da gubermint claims that...we must believe it....da gubermint would never lie...not ever!!!!

I know gravity never lies.

I would be more prone to believe you know what you are talking about when it comes to this field than I would Matthew....the dude never questions anything.....

 

[saveliberty]

Matthew? Your article is referencing something that happened in 2013.

 

[saveliberty]

First, NASA’s Juno mission to Jupiter will be arriving in the Jovian system in 2016 and will enter a polar orbit around the gas giant. But Jupiter weighs in at 317 times the mass of the Earth. Falling deep into its gravity well will accelerate Juno to a velocity of about 160,000 miles per hour relative to the planet, before it can swing by, drop speed, and get into its mission orbit.


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