How Spacecraft Fly
  • Home
  • About the author
  • What's it all about?
  • Reviews
  • Picture gallery
  • External links
  • Contact me
  • Author's blog
  • Correction to text

Juno departs for Jupiter

8/8/2011

0 Comments

 
Picture
The US space probe Juno launched at 16.25 UTC on Friday 5 August 2011, as the first step of its 5 year journey to Jupiter. If all goes well the spacecraft will enter Jupiter orbit in 2016.

Juno is the first US deep space probe not to use Radioisotope Thermal Generators (RTGs) for power generation (RTGs convert the heat generated
by the radioactive decay of plutonium to electrical power). Instead Juno will use solar arrays, despite the fact that solar power flux at Jupiter is 25 times less than that at Earth orbit.  Looking at the pictures of the spacecraft the array area is of the order of 55 square meters (which is large), which will provide about 400 W of electrical power at Jupiter to operate the spacecraft.  Because of the low solar intensity, the arrays will get cold at Jupiter orbit, which will help boost their generating efficiency.  Some media agencies claim that this is the first spacecraft to use solar arrays at this distance from the Sun – but of course the Europeans have beaten them to it with the Rosetta spacecraft, which will operate with arrays at distances slightly greater from the Sun than Juno.

The mission will follow-on from the Galileo Jupiter orbiter (launched in September 1995), but it seems the focus of the mission will be more to do with studying Jupiter itself, and its magnetic and trapped radiation
fields.  It is hoped to discover the internal structure of the planet.  By contrast, much of Galileo’s objectives focussed on the characteristics of Jupiter’s many moons.


0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Author

    Graham Swinerd - I hope to use this page to highlight current major events in space and spacececraft.

    Archives

    November 2022
    October 2016
    July 2016
    February 2016
    December 2015
    September 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    July 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    December 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    January 2012
    October 2011
    August 2011
    July 2011
    June 2011
    May 2011
    April 2011
    March 2011
    February 2011
    January 2011

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.