Juno at Jupiter

[01101001]

Burn lasted 35 minutes, 2 seconds, about one second off the prediction. (Must be some ATM gold in that 1-second "anomaly"! )

And, I heard: Juno entered its orbit within one sweet centimeter of the target.

Call me crazy, but I'm beginning to think NASA has a pretty fine model of how that gravity thang works even away from Earth orbit.

(Protip: when thinking people see the phrase "ATM gold", they should think not of Au, but instead FeS₂.)

[Squink]

And, I heard: Juno entered its orbit within one sweet centimeter of the target.

There's an incredibly accurate GPS constellation deployed around Jupiter to make this measurement possible?

[crosscountry]

There's an incredibly accurate GPS constellation deployed around Jupiter to make this measurement possible?

There are other ways to measure. I heard one second, not one cm. Of course 1 second traveling at their speeds is 10,000 m.


Nevertheless, with Doppler tracking, they can get the velocity very accurately. Velocity and acceleration from Jupiter's gravity tell a whole lot of the story.

[01101001]

There are other ways to measure. I heard one second, not one cm. Of course 1 second traveling at their speeds is 10,000 m.

The quote I saw was both: delta 1 second of planned burn time to arrive near target location and 1 cm of distance from target when Juno arrived there.

Like this:

Washington Post: Why scientists are so excited about the Juno probe that is finally orbiting Jupiter

Juno entered its orbit within one centimeter of the target, just one second later than the moment NASA had aimed for.

[selvaarchi]

Now for the orbit to be reduced down to 14 days, what day is that supposed to be accomplished?

Nice report in the Guardian on that. Not as scientific as 01101001 post #26

https://www.theguardian.com/science/...bit-spacewatch

Having travelled for more than 1.7bn miles through the solar system, Juno was captured by Jupiter’s gravity at 03:18 GMT on 5 July after an engine burn that lasted 35 minutes.

It is now in a highly elliptical orbit around the giant planet, taking 53.5 days to complete a circuit. It will stay in this “capture orbit” until October, when another engine firing will reduce the size to a 14-day orbit.

[selvaarchi]

Emily Lakdawalla on Juno's arrival.

http://www.planetary.org/blogs/emily...s-arrived.html

For a second time, NASA has placed a spacecraft into orbit at Jupiter. The spacecraft operated exactly according to plan, and Juno successfully entered orbit at 02:50 today, July 5, 2016, UTC; a further 15 minutes of engine firing beyond that placed Juno into its desired orbit. The actual burn time of 2102 seconds was only 1 second off of the predicted value.

As of the moment I'm writing this, they hadn't yet downlinked telemetry (or if they did, they haven't told the media); they only received tones from the spacecraft's low- and medium-gain antennae that give the most basic information on spacecraft health. But so far, so good, for everything, and it was a pretty euphoric team at the post-orbit-insertion briefing.

Below is the JunoCam approach movie, 17 days and about 1500 images covering an entire Callisto orbit. There is a soundtrack (by Vangelis), so mute your computer if you're at work before you play it! I'm told there will be a version without all the extra produced padding posted at some point this evening, but it's getting late and I have to drive home...

[publiusr]

And no stuck dish this time.

[selvaarchi]

The 1st picture from Juno

http://www.popsci.com/juno-spacecraf...jupiters-orbit

The team turned JunoCam back on on July 10, and the result is this great photo of Jupiter's giant red spot and three of its moons. It is composed of the first several images from Juno's orbit of Jupiter.

And don't worry, the images are going to get a lot better than this. The photo above was captured from a distance of 2.7 million miles, but as Juno loops further around its egg-shaped orbit, it will skim the tops of Jupiter's clouds from a distance of about 2,600 miles. That's closer than any spacecraft has ever come before.

Expect the really amazing, high-resolution images to come in late August.

[crosscountry]

woo hoo!

[bknight]

The 1st picture from Juno

http://www.popsci.com/juno-spacecraf...jupiters-orbit

Nice image but Jupiter seems a bit fuzzy to me.

[KaiYeves]

Perfect as a textbook diagram-- which it may very likely become in the future.

[Amber Robot]

Considering that the camera was most likely designed to take pictures from very close-up (a few thousand miles above the cloud tops, I believe), I wouldn't suspect that a long distance shot will necessarily be the greatest.

[selvaarchi]

Nice article of NASA's exploration of Jupiter, starting with Pioneer 10, till now where we have Juno. It also explains why we need Juno.

http://www.popsci.com/why-you-should...-is-at-jupiter

On July 4, NASA’s Juno spacecraft fired its engines for the 35-minute orbit insertion burn. The spacecraft’s nearly five year trek to Jupiter ended and its orbital mission began. It was an exciting moment for space nerds, but the casual observer might not have been thrilled. After all, we’ve been to Jupiter a number of times, and most people can recognize its characteristic red spot and know at least a little about its major moons. But as familiar as Jupiter might seem, Juno is only the second ever dedicated mission we’ve sent to the gas giant, this time around we stand to learn as much as Jupiter as how the elements for life ended up on Earth.

[geonuc]

I'm hoping one or more of the Juno scientists will attend DragonCon this year. We always get good representation from NASA/JPL with the Cassini and Mars rover teams.

[publiusr]

Considering that the camera was most likely designed to take pictures from very close-up (a few thousand miles above the cloud tops, I believe), I wouldn't suspect that a long distance shot will necessarily be the greatest.

It has a long looping comet like orbit. Russia due to being so far north--has to use similar Molniya orbits:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molniya_orbit
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juno_(...nd_environment

I wonder if it can beam back some video just before it enters the atmosphere. Jupiter will look very flat close up.

[selvaarchi]

On July 31 at 12:41 p.m. PDT (3:41 p.m. EDT), Juno will reach the farthest point in its orbit of Jupiter for the first time, known as "apojove," 5 million miles (8.1 million kilometers) from the giant planet. After that point, Jupiter's gravitational grip on Juno will cause the spacecraft to begin falling back toward the planet for another pass, this time with its scientific eyes wide open.

Yaa Hooo now we (the public) hopefully start getting some scientific data and of course some nice pictures.

http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.ph...s.xml&rst=6581

Juno arrived at Jupiter on July 4, firing its main rocket engine as planned for 35 minutes. The flawless maneuver allowed Jupiter's gravity to capture the solar powered spacecraft into the first of two 53.4-day-long orbits, referred to as capture orbits. Following the capture orbits, Juno will fire its engine once more to shorten its orbital period to 14 days and begin its science mission.

But before that happens, on Aug. 27, Juno must finish its first lap around Jupiter, with a finish line that represents the mission's closest pass over the gas giant. During the encounter, Juno will skim past Jupiter at a mere 2,600 miles (4,200 kilometers) above the cloud tops.

Juno's science instruments were turned off during orbit insertion, to simplify spacecraft operations during that critical maneuver. In contrast, all the instruments will be collecting data during the Aug. 27 pass, which serves as a trial run before the mission gets to work collecting the precious data it came for.

"We're in an excellent state of health, with the spacecraft and all the instruments fully checked out and ready for our first up-close look at Jupiter," said Rick Nybakken, Juno project manager at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California.

[selvaarchi]

Emily Lakdawalla on the release of the raw data from the Juno approach movie.

http://www.planetary.org/blogs/emily...-raw-data.html

As it approached Jupiter from June 12 to 29, JunoCam captured an animation of the major moons orbiting the planet, covering 17 days -- one complete Callisto orbital period. The mission released a processed version of the animation on the day of orbit insertion, but took a few weeks to release the raw image data. With a little help from Gerald Eichstädt (who produced thumbnails) I've now assembled one of my usual thumbnail previews of the entire data set. JunoCam should have restarted imaging after Jupiter orbit insertion on July 11, and should be acquiring another movie now, the "Marble Movie," on approach to its August 27 perijove. I've seen only one image formally released so far from that sequence, but TODAY the mission posted nearly 900 Megabytes of raw data from the Marble Movie on the JunoCam processing website -- stay tuned for more from that!

[bknight]

Juno is 4.57 M miles from Jupiter current velocity 3992 mph and increasing as it continues in orbit 1. (0758 CDT 10 Aug 2016)

[selvaarchi]

NASA's Juno to Soar Closest to Jupiter This Saturday

http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.ph...s.xml&rst=6601

This Saturday at 5:51 a.m. PDT, (8:51 a.m. EDT, 12:51 UTC) NASA's Juno spacecraft will get closer to the cloud tops of Jupiter than at any other time during its prime mission. At the moment of closest approach, Juno will be about 2,600 miles (4,200 kilometers) above Jupiter's swirling clouds and traveling at 130,000 mph (208,000 kilometers per hour) with respect to the planet. There are 35 more close flybys of Jupiter scheduled during its prime mission (scheduled to end in February of 2018). The Aug. 27 flyby will be the first time Juno will have its entire suite of science instruments activated and looking at the giant planet as the spacecraft zooms past.

"This is the first time we will be close to Jupiter since we entered orbit on July 4," said Scott Bolton, principal investigator of Juno from the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio. "Back then we turned all our instruments off to focus on the rocket burn to get Juno into orbit around Jupiter. Since then, we have checked Juno from stem to stern and back again. We still have more testing to do, but we are confident that everything is working great, so for this upcoming flyby Juno's eyes and ears, our science instruments, will all be open."

"This is our first opportunity to really take a close-up look at the king of our solar system and begin to figure out how he works," Bolton said.

While the science data from the pass should be downlinked to Earth within days, interpretation and first results are not expected for some time.

[Launch window]

Juno on twitter
https://twitter.com/NASAJuno/status/769649749662109696

[selvaarchi]

NASA's Juno Successfully Completes Jupiter Flyby

http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.ph...s.xml&rst=6606

NASA's Juno mission successfully executed its first of 36 orbital flybys of Jupiter today. The time of closest approach with the gas-giant world was 6:44 a.m. PDT (9:44 a.m. EDT, 13:44 UTC) when Juno passed about 2,600 miles (4,200 kilometers) above Jupiter's swirling clouds. At the time, Juno was traveling at 130,000 mph (208,000 kilometers per hour) with respect to the planet. This flyby was the closest Juno will get to Jupiter during its prime mission.

"Early post-flyby telemetry indicates that everything worked as planned and Juno is firing on all cylinders," said Rick Nybakken, Juno project manager at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California.

There are 35 more close flybys of Jupiter planned during Juno's mission (scheduled to end in February 2018). The August 27 flyby was the first time Juno had its entire suite of science instruments activated and looking at the giant planet as the spacecraft zoomed past.

[selvaarchi]

Emily Lakdawalla report on the flyby has an extra photo the NASA has released.

http://www.planetary.org/blogs/emily...ter-close.html

NASA announced this afternoon that Juno passed through its first perijove since entering orbit successfully, with science instruments operating all the way. This is a huge relief, given all the unknowns about the effects of Jupiter's nasty radiation environment on its brand-new orbiter.

NASA's Juno mission successfully executed its first of 36 orbital flybys of Jupiter today. The time of closest approach with the gas-giant world was 6:44 a.m. PDT (9:44 a.m. EDT, 13:44 UTC) when Juno passed about 2,600 miles (4,200 kilometers) above Jupiter's swirling clouds. At the time, Juno was traveling at 130,000 mph (208,000 kilometers per hour) with respect to the planet. This flyby was the closest Juno will get to Jupiter during its prime mission.

"Early post-flyby telemetry indicates that everything worked as planned and Juno is firing on all cylinders," said Rick Nybakken, Juno project manager....

While results from the spacecraft's suite of instruments will be released down the road, a handful of images from Juno's visible light imager -- JunoCam -- are expected to be released the next couple of weeks. Those images will include the highest-resolution views of the Jovian atmosphere and the first glimpse of Jupiter's north and south poles.

They released one processed image from JunoCam, taken on approach to perijove, from a distance of 703,000 kilometers. I checked JPL's Horizons web tool and determined that the photo was captured two hours before closest approach, roughly an hour before the spacecraft would have passed over the north pole. So it's just a taste of the awesome imaging to come -- there should be much better stuff in the future. For now, though, just pause and appreciate what an unusual view this is -- a crescent Jupiter, tipping over to show its north pole to us.

[selvaarchi]

Juno sends back more pictures

http://www.universetoday.com/130608/...s-2500-miles/#

Juno is sending data from Jupiter back to us, courtesy of the Deep Space Network, and the first images are meeting our hyped-up expectations. On August 27, the Juno spacecraft came within about 4,200 km. (2,500 miles) of Jupiter’s cloud tops. All of Juno’s instruments were active, and along with some high-quality images in visual and infrared, Juno also captured the sound that Jupiter produces.

Juno has captured the first images of Jupiter’s north pole. Beyond their interest as pure, unprecedented eye candy, the images of the pole reveal things never before seen. They show storm activity and weather patterns that are seen nowhere else in our solar system. Even on the other gas giants.

[bknight]

It looks like there is another "Great Storm" around the South Pole similar to the Great Spot seen for hundreds of years.

[Launch window]

wonderful view in infrared. JIRAM has a great picture captured, I don't think the models predicted Jupiter would be like this

[Amber Robot]

It looks like there is another "Great Storm" around the South Pole similar to the Great Spot seen for hundreds of years.

I think what you're referring to is an infrared image of the southern aurora, not an atmospheric storm like the GRS.

[publiusr]

The southern lights:
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/spaceimages/...hp?id=PIA21033

It does look like the red spot in this image.

[selvaarchi]

Update on Juno by Emily Lakdawalla.

http://www.planetary.org/blogs/emily...ie-update.html

Juno is on its second of two long orbits around Jupiter, reaching apojove (its farthest distance from the planet) today. It's turning back, headed for another close pass over the north pole in about a month, on October 19. That's when it'll fire its main engine again, trimming its orbit to one that'll last only 14 instead of 53.5 days.

I checked with JPL because I hadn't heard anything about Juno for a while, and the public information officer DC Agle told me: "Vehicle is in great shape. Instruments / flight hardware all check out." I asked how preparations were going as they get ready to start the science mission in November, and he said "Minor changes to instrument parameters – but nothing at all significant."

On September 26, Jupiter will pass through solar conjunction as seen from Earth. Solar conjunction has no direct effect on Jupiter or the spacecraft orbiting it, but the Sun standing in between Earth and Jupiter makes communication with spacecraft difficult. So, starting tomorrow and for the following week, there'll be no data playback. That, in turn, means a weeklong pause for the recording of the JunoCam "Marble Movie," which has been running since July 11; it'll pick up again on September 30 and finish up on October 18. They've been releasing Marble Movie images here in one-week batches, and I've been downloading them and reposting them here with thumbnails generated by Gerald Eichstädt. Here's Gerald's latest incarnation of the movie, running through September 10, which is well worth the three minutes it takes to watch it.

[bknight]

In the series of images released as a movie, is it possible we are viewing more than 4 moons orbiting Jupiter? I can't decipher if there are any more.

[crosscountry]

I only see four, but that doesn't mean another couldn't be instantaneously bright enough to see. The Galilean moons are much bigger than anything else though, and the others are not spherical, so seeing one orbit is highly unlikely.


It's fun to watch the inner three big moons do their synchronous dance.