WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - On July 4, NASA will fly a solar-powered spacecraft the size of a basketball court within 2,900 miles (4,667 kilometers) of the cloud tops of our solar system's largest planet.
As of Thursday, Juno is 18 days and 8.6 million miles (13.8 million kilometers) from Jupiter. On the evening of July 4, Juno will fire its main engine for 35 minutes, placing it into a polar orbit around the gas giant. During the flybys, Juno will probe beneath the obscuring cloud cover of Jupiter and study its auroras to learn more about the planet's origins, structure, atmosphere and magnetosphere.
'At this time last year our New Horizons spacecraft was closing in for humanity's first close views of Pluto,' said Diane Brown, Juno program executive at NASA Headquarters in Washington. 'Now, Juno is poised to go closer to Jupiter than any spacecraft ever before to unlock the mysteries of what lies within.'
A series of 37 planned close approaches during the mission will eclipse the previous record for Jupiter set in 1974 by NASA's Pioneer 11 spacecraft of 27,000 miles (43,000 kilometers). Getting this close to Jupiter does not come without a price -- one that will be paid each time Juno's orbit carries it toward the swirling tumult of orange, white, red and brown clouds that cover the gas giant.
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