How much Juno about the ‘Lego’ mission to Jupiter?
After 445 million miles and five years, craft finally arrives at the largest planet in our solar system to explore
MANKIND's fastest spacecraft is reaching the final stages of its five-year 445 million-mile flight to Jupiter.
On Monday, the unmanned Juno will hit the brakes at 150,000mph and slow to 1,200mph, shifting into position above the planet's radioactive clouds.
From there it will transmit data and pictures back to Earth.
Here, GRANT ROLLINGS explains how the mission could help uncover the secrets of how our solar system formed.
The Mission
- Launched on an Atlas V rocket from the US on August 5, 2011
- Will have travelled 1.7 billion miles to get to Jupiter (445 million miles away at launch) as it needed to orbit the sun and Earth on first leg
- If Juno flew at the speed of a passenger jet (600 mph) it would take 342 years to complete the mission
- Once June arrives at Jupiter, it will travel 348 million miles and orbit the planet at 130,000 mph - the fastest spacecraft to enter orbit around a planet
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- It is the first mission to fly as close as 2,600 miles to Jupiter's cloud tops and will be able to look below its dense covers
- Nasa will use the spacecraft to take the highest-resolution images of Jupiter in history
- It is hoped the mission will reveal more about the structure and evolution of Jupiter - and potentially uncover any secrets as to how the early solar system was formed
Juno
- Diameter: 66ft (20 metres)
- Height: 15ft (4.5 metres)
- Juno was named after the Roman goddess, who was Jupiter's wife and the only one who could see through the veil of cloud her husband drew around himself.
The Journey
The Orbit
Over the next 18 months it will orbit the planet 37 times, snapping away and transmitting data back to Earth.
Most of the orbits last for 14 days.
The probe should be able to find out the water and oxygen content of the planet and discover whether it has a solid core.
How much will Juno cost?
More than £850 million!
This is the total cost of the mission, including Juno's construction and development, the launch, science equipment, operations while in orbit, science data processing and relay support for six and a half years.
The Speed
- Juno: 165,000 mph
- Space Shuttle: 17,000 mph
- Boeing 747: 600mph
The Equipment
- Without its solar panel sails, Juno is 11.5ft (3.5m) high, 11.5ft in diameter and weighed 3.5 tonnes at launch
- It is powered by three 29.5ft (9m) by 8.7ft (2.7m) solar panel sils, with a total 18,698 solar cells absorbing the sun's rays
- There are 29 sensors onboard feeding data to nine instruments, including the JunoCam which takes snaps at a resolution of 16 miles per pixel
Lego Figures
- Jupiter (Roman god shrouded in cloud)
- Juno (his wife who sees his true nature through the clouds)
- Galileo Galilei (astronomer who discovered Jupiter's four largest moons)
- They are making the journey as part of a drive by Nasa and Lego to get kids into science and tech
Jupiter
- Known as the King of Planets it is the largest planet in the solar system
- Believed to have been the first planet created after Big Bang 4.6billion years ago
- Receives 25 times less sunlight than Earth
- Rotates so fast its day is only 10 hours long
Jupiter's Moons
EUROPA
Most likely to have extraterrestrial life.
It's surface is a later of water 62 miles thick - mainly ice at the top but liquid below.
IO
Named after one of Greek god Zeus' lovers.
Has more than 400 active volcanoes and its surface is completely buried in volcanic lava every few thousand years.
CALLISTO
Surrounded by a thin atmosphere of carbon dioxide and probably molecular oxygen.
Most suitable place for a human base for future exploration.
GANYMEDE
Largest moon in solar system with 3,300 mile diameter.
Mainly rock and ice with a salt water ocean believed to exist 125 miles beneath its surface.