Juno risky mission. “We do not seek the tumor, we look for data” – rmf24.pl

July 4, the day 240. birthday of the United States, NASA will celebrate a risky maneuver probe Juno, which enters the orbit of Jupiter, a little over 4.5 thousand kilometers above the cloud cover. The mission of the largest planet of the solar system will expose the probe among other things, the impact of powerful magnetic fields and strong X-rays Scientists are counting on that apparatus Juno survive long enough to perform all scheduled measurements and send the results back to Earth.

         

                              This meeting is supposed to look Juno probe to Jupiter
                                      / NASA / JPL-Caltech / press materials
                                     

     

At this time, the probe still has a road 17 days, more than 13 million kilometers from Jupiter. In the evening on July 4 to 35 minutes will turn its main engine, which will allow it to enter orbit around the pole of the gas giant. Its mission provides measurements to help better understand the origin of the planet, its construction, the structure of its atmosphere and the distribution of the magnetosphere.

At this time last year, New Horizons spacecraft approached to Pluto, to enable mankind first close look at him – says Diane Brown, a member of the leadership of Juno mission in NASA headquarters in Washington. Now Juno has to get closer to Jupiter than any previous probe, and help you discover the secrets that this planet is in itself conceals – he said.

In 1974, the spacecraft Pioneer 11 passed Jupiter at a distance of 43,000 kilometers. Juno mission plans to provide up to 37 flights a much closer. Each of them gives you a chance to collect invaluable data, but also exposes the same probe the influence of a violent external factors. We do not seek the tumor, we look for data – marks Scott Bolton of Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio. The problem is that in the vicinity of Jupiter scientific research associated with the need to find in the environment in which about trouble very easily – he admits.

One of the causes of the problems is the layer of hydrogen , located under the outer cloud cover of Jupiter. Hydrogen under such a high pressure enters a metallic, electrically conductive. This combined with an extremely rapid swirling motion of the planet (Jupiter day is only 10 hours) generates a powerful magnetic field. Its existence makes the electrons, protons and ions acquire there near the speed of light and bombard each located there object with an unusual intensity.

By the planned duration of its mission Juno receives a dose of X-rays comparable to 100 million dental X-rays – says Rick Nybakken of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. We are ready for it. Juno orbit flight so we chose to limit the impact of radiation as possible. It should allow the probe to survive long enough to collect and send data, after which flies so far – he added.

The elongated elliptical orbit is not everything. Probe sensitive equipment, including on-board computer, hidden in titanium armor. Weighing more than 170 kilograms shield reduces radiation dose in its interior even about 800 times. Without it, the computer does not survive probably the very first flight. And chances are that the equipment will operate the scheduled time of about 20 months.

_{See prepared by NASA movie announcing the mission. Impressive!}