3-2-1: A look at NASA’s Jupiter mission by the numbers

Eventually, Juno will succumb to the intense radiation and will be commanded to plunge into Jupiter’s atmosphere to avoid any collision with the planet’s moons. It looped around the inner solar system and then swung by Earth, using our planet as a gravity slingshot to hurtle toward the outer solar system. The Juno mission will help scientists understand planetary systems in other parts of the universe.

Scientists have promised close-up views of the planet when Juno skims the cloud tops during the 20-month, $1.1 billion mission managed by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

The Juno spacecraft has just entered the Jovian orbit after covering almost 1.7 billion miles in the interplanetary space some five years after its launch in August 2011.

Now that the Juno spacecraft is settled in orbit around Jupiter, the real work is about to begin. “Bravo, Juno!”, the search engine said. “We conquered Jupiter”, lead mission scientist Scott Bolton, with the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio, told reporters on Tuesday.

Juno’s camera and other instruments were turned off during its highly anticipated arrival, but it did capture images of the biggest planet in the solar system and its moons in motion.

Seven other USA space probes have sailed past the gas giant on brief reconnaissance missions before heading elsewhere in the solar system. The Juno spacecraft includes 12 Aerojet Rocketdyne MR-111C 1.0 lbf monopropellant hydrazine Rocket Engine Assemblies that have provided attitude control for the spacecraft throughout its journey, as well as during insertion into Jupiter’s orbit, which occurred on July 4, 2016.

The four-ton Juno launched on August 5, 2011, and is equipped with three 30-foot-long solar arrays, along with 18,696 individual solar cells, to help it make the most of the solar power it receives on its journey.

Named after Jupiter’s cloud-piercing wife in Roman mythology, Juno is only the second mission created to spend time at Jupiter. Does it have a solid core? How much water is in its atmosphere? This is how we look. Juno is the first spacecraft to venture this far out on solar power. Juno will particularly study the mysterious red spot on the face of the monster, which is believed to be a huge storm, much bigger than the Earth in diameter.

Previous missions to Jupiter have revealed stunning views of the planet’s thick clouds and vivid auroras.

Juno braved a hostile radiation environment to reach Jupiter.

Juno’s computers and sensitive science instruments are housed in a 400-pound (180-kg) titanium vault for protection.

Like Galileo before it, Juno meets its demise in 2018 when it deliberately dives into Jupiter’s atmosphere and disintegrates – a necessary sacrifice to prevent any chance of accidentally crashing into the planet’s potentially habitable moons.