The Juno spacecraft weighs 3,500 pounds (1,600 kg) and will be
barreling through space at 215 times the speed of sound. To slow down, the
engines will fire for 35 minutes straight, burning through 17,600 pounds (7,900
kg) of fuel in the process.
The biggest space event of the year is happening soon. On July 4,
NASA’s un-crewed Juno spacecraft will end its nearly five-year journey through
space and embark on a mission to study the planet Jupiter like never
before. But first, the spacecraft must lock on to Jupiter into what’s
called a polar orbit. This is the most dangerous part of
the entire Juno mission, and is what NASA will be watching instead of
fireworks this holiday weekend.
If all goes according to plan, this perilous manoeuvre will place
Juno into orbit around Jupiter, where the spacecraft will remain over the next
18 months, providing an unprecedented look at Jupiter’s powerful gravitational
and magnetic fields.
As Juno approaches its destination on July 4, Jupiter’s tremendous
gravitational pull will accelerate the spacecraft to blazing speeds of more
than 150,000 mph (241,000 km/h), making Juno one of the fastest human-made
objects ever built. After reaching a max speed of 165,000 mph (266,000
km/h) – fast enough to fly around Earth in 9 minutes – Juno will slam on the
breaks by firing its engines. This is where things get tricky.
If something goes wrong, the US$1.13 billion mission will
shoot past Jupiter, into deep space with no chance of return.
The fifth rock from the sun and the heftiest planet in the solar
system, Jupiter is what's known as a gas giant—a ball of hydrogen and
helium—unlike rocky Earth and Mars. With its billowy clouds and colorful
stripes, Jupiter is an extreme world that likely formed first, shortly after
the sun. Unlocking its history may hold clues to understanding how Earth and
the rest of the solar system developed.
NASA only has one shot at this. The engine burn will start at
11:18pm ET on July 4.
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