MISSION JUNO

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JUNO is a NASA mission to the planet Jupiter. The Juno spacecraft is scheduled to launch aboard an Atlas V-551 rocket from Cape Canaveral, Fla., in Aug. 2011. (www.nasa.gov). It will take 5 years to reach Jupiter, arriving in July 2016. It will orbit Jupiter 33 times. The purpose of the mission is to explore Jupiter’s structure and atmosphere. The main aim of this mission is to understand how the planet Jupiter originated and thus help us understand the evolution of the gas giants. This knowledge will also reflect upon our understanding of the origins of the Universe. The spacecraft will be placed in a polar orbit to study the planet's composition, gravity field, magnetic field, and polar magnetosphere. Juno will also search to see whether the planet has a rocky core and investigate the amount of water present within the planet’s atmosphere. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, CA is managing the Juno mission for Dr. Scott Bolton of Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio, Texas. The spacecraft is being built by Lockheed Martin of Denver. Scientists from 5 countries ha...

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