NASA's Juno spacecraft on its way to unveil Jupiter's mysteries

Thursday, January 8, 2015 - 09:00 in Astronomy & Space

The gas giant Jupiter safeguards many secrets crucial to our understanding of the evolution of our solar system. It could also provide insights on how giant planets form and the role these titans played in putting together the rest of the solar neighborhood. NASA's Juno spacecraft is on its way to reveal those mysteries as the probe is on course for its planned arrival at Jupiter on July 4, 2016. "On that date, Juno will make its first dive over the planet's poles, firing its rocket engine to slow down just enough for the giant planet's gravity to capture the spacecraft into orbit," Scott Bolton of the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio, Texas, Juno's principal investigator told astrowatch.net. "All of Juno's instruments are healthy and working well. The Juno team anticipates some truly wonderful results when their experiments reach Jupiter."

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