FX.co ★ Welcome to Jupiter!
Welcome to Jupiter!
Everything corresponded to the calculations - the Juno solar batteries turned to the Sun an hour after entering orbit.
“We are in orbit and now the fun begins, the science,” said Bolton at the briefing. “We just did the hardest thing NASA's ever done! That's my claim. I am so happy … and proud of this team. The deep interior of Jupiter is nearly unknown. That's what we are trying to learn about. The origin of us.”
The previous record for a close approach to Jupiter was set by the American space agency Nasa's Pioneer 11 spacecraft which passed by the planet at a distance of 27,000 miles (43,000 km) in 1974.
The Juno spacecraft comes equipped with a scientific suite of 8 instruments that will allow it to study Jupiter's atmosphere, magnetic and gravitational field, weather patterns, its internal structure, and its formational history.