Almost five years after its launching, Nasa’s Juno spacecraft will arrive at Jupiter on 4th July. It will be the fastest man-made object ever created, travelling over 250,000km/h (155,000mph). And at this point, Nasa scientists will prepare to manoeuvre it into Jupiter’s orbit.
On Friday (May 27), Juno crossed a gravitational boundary between Jupiter and the sun, and the gas giant began pulling the spacecraft in ahead of a planned July 4 arrival, NASA officials said.
The main goal for launching Juno is to understand the origin and evolution of Jupiter. Up until today, there is a lack of detailed study regarding the planetary core, magnetic field, water measure and the ammonia content of the planet. To complete its mission, Juno is also equipped with a color camera called JunoCam, an interactive camera where people can actually get involved in the imaging process.
Launched on August 5, 2011, Juno is NASA’s Jupiter-bound spacecraft which is expected to reach Jupiter’s orbit in July this year. Due to its proximity to the target planet, Juno was able to beam back tons of information about Jupiter. As it is soon going to reach the target, scientists are anticipating more data from the spacecraft. Currently, Juno just crossed the gravitational boundary of the Sun and Jupiter and had already entered the Jupiter’s realm.
Juno will enter the orbit of Jupiter and will then circumnavigate the planet for 37 times which is about 3,100 miles (5,000 kilometers) above the planet’s cloud tops. During the flybys, Juno will probe beneath the obscuring cloud cover of Jupiter and study its auroras to learn more about the planet’s origins, structure, atmosphere, and magnetosphere.