Imminent arrival of Juno spacecraft to Jupiter – ElEspectador.com

In less than two hours is expected to NASA’s Juno reaches Jupiter’s orbit after five years of mission. It will be a historic moment because it will become the first spacecraft to approach the solar system’s largest planet and at the same time it is the device powered by solar energy that has traveled further in space.

Juno was launched on 5 August 2011. the ship, unmanned, has a similar size basketball court. However all the efforts made in its construction will be relatively short-lived. Because the radiation belts of Jupiter by 2018 will be destroyed by these adverse conditions. One hour of radiation in Jupiter amounts to a dental patient would receive if it came to 100 million X-ray in an office.

The arrival of Juno is scheduled for 9:30 pm but will receive first signs of success or failure of the mission 22.30 Monday July 4. It is expected that with the information captured by the instruments attached to the ship, anchored at the heaviest case in the history of interplanetary exploration with 100 kilos of titanium, can raise new answers to the mysteries of the core, the composition and planet’s magnetic field.

Juno also improve the understanding of the early stages of the solar system by revealing the origin and evolution of Jupiter, perhaps the first of the planets to form. In fact it is believed that when he was born was twice the current size.

The American probe is also the first to observe what lies beneath the dense clouds of the planet, so the mission is named after the goddess Juno, sister and wife of Jupiter, which according to Roman mythology, could see through the clouds. The average density of the planet, has been compared to the sun or if you want something a little closer: a maple syrup to sweeten the pancakes. Astronomers also know that the energy released in the powerful auroras of the planet is the same as consuming a country like the United States.

For the US space agency (NASA), this mission is “to take a giant step toward understanding how giant planets form and the role they played in the formation of the rest of the solar system. “

 In total they were invested in this mission around US $ 1,300 million.