NEW ORLEANS (WGNO) – Most Americans will celebrate the Fourth of July at BBQs and watching fireworks. But for a group of NASA scientists July 4th will mark a different milestone. They will see if a nearly five-year journey to Jupiter is a success or failure.
Late July 4th, NASA’s Juno spacecraft will is expected to enter Jupiter, the biggest planet in our solar system. If everything goes as planned Juno will be the first spacecraft ever to pierce the planet’s dense cloud cover.
The biggest risk to the spacecraft will be in its first insertion. That is expected to happen about 10:18 p.m. (Central Time) July 4. Scientists won’t official know if it worked until an hour later.
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“July 4th is going to be a very special day,” Astronaut Victor Glover told WGNO. “We’ll do the orbital insertion for Juno. Juno is going to fly closer to Jupiter than any spacecraft ever has.
“That’s going to tell us things about the composition of the planet if it has a solid core. It will give us information about the chemical composition of the atmosphere, the magnetosphere, the radiation. We’re going learn, revealing the unknown for the benefit of all humankind.”
Juno will orbit the giant planet 37 times over the next 18 months, collecting data.
That expected data isn’t the only reason why NASA scientists are excited. Juno is a pretty unique spacecraft.
“It is the first time that we have launched a satellite that’s solar powered to an outer planet,” said NASA Administrator Charles Bolden. “It [Juno] has already brought back some pretty incredible images of the moons of Jupiter and in the same image of the planet itself.”
You can see Jupiter from Earth without any special binoculars or telescopes. It’s the bright star in the evening sky from January through August. If you do have a telescope, you can see its largest moons.
The Juno mission ends on February 20, 2018, when Juno is expected to crash into Jupiter.