NASA prepares for Juno spacecraft’s arrival at Jupiter next week
JUN 28, 2016
DOI: 10.1063/PT.5.029925
New York Times : On 4 July the US will celebrate not only Independence Day but also the arrival of NASA’s Juno spacecraft at Jupiter. Launched five years ago, Juno has traveled nearly 3 billion kilometers. Whereas the Galileo spacecraft, launched in 1989, spent eight years exploring Jupiter and its moons, Juno will concentrate on the planet itself, particularly on what lies beneath its dense cloud cover. Besides abundant hydrogen and helium, Jupiter is thought to contain small amounts of heavier elements, such as carbon, lithium, and nitrogen. The data gathered should provide insight into how the solar system and the planets formed.
© 2016. American Institute of Physics