NASA Juno Mission: July 4 Take Off To Unlock Jupiter’s Deepest Mysteries, Capture Amazing Images

The NASA Jupiter probe is aiming to unlock some of the mysteries of Jupiter and send amazing close-up images of the planet. The much-awaited Juno spacecraft is expected to go into orbit on July 4.

This NASA Juno mission is similar to a windmill that peacefully spins through space, with its three elongated solar arrays that stretch away from its rotating body. However, once it arrives at Jupiter on July 4 at 11:18 ET, it will shortly become among the fastest man-made objects while it dives near the largest planet in the solar system and charges through its radiation belts.

Based on NASA Jupiter facts, the planet's charged particle radiation belts are the most intense and energetic in the solar system.  According to Juno scientist Barry Mauk of the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Maryland, these belts are indications of difficult challenges faced by any spacecraft mission to Jupiter.  

The scientist also added that surviving a 35-minute insertion maneuver would make the spacecraft settle into a steady polar orbit. For the succeeding 20 months, Juno will move at high speed Jupiter in 37 long orbits, therefore, spending a large piece of time, hundreds of thousands miles away to prevent lag in the radiation belts, Space reported.

However, the objectives of the NASA Juno mission would mean that Juno will also move closer to Jupiter than the previous spacecrafts by diving close to the clouds every two weeks. In its closest approach, Juno will glide short of the planet's cloud tops as it skims 3,100 miles away only.

From such vantage point, the NASA Juno probe will be using a set of tools designed to unlock some of the deepest mysteries of Jupiter. Through the eight onboard instruments, Juno will try to explore the planet's origins, examine its intense radiation fields and look closely underneath its thick shroud of surrounding clouds.

The NASA Jupiter probe will be closely monitored by the space agency, specifically Juno's signing off following one last pass at the mission's end in order to prevent the possible contamination of Europa or any rocky moons that it plans to explore later, according to National Geographic.