On July 4, NASA’s Juno spacecraft will fly within 3,100 miles of the cloud tops of our solar system’s largest planet, Jupiter. Jupiter lies in the harshest radiation environment in our solar system, so the orbital insertion of this particular spacecraft will mark a new achievement in planetary exploration.
NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center and the U.S. Space & Rocket Center, both in Huntsville, Alabama, will host a “Jupiter Jam” on June 29, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., in the Davidson Center for Space Exploration. At 11 a.m., Allen Bacskay, manager of the Planetary Missions office and Brian Key, deputy of the Planetary Missions office at Marshall, will be available for interviews to the news media.
In recognition of Juno’s arrival to Jupiter, activities and presentations to educate and inform the public about the mission’s science objectives and its upcoming orbital insertion of the planet Jupiter are planned at the U.S. Space and Rocket Center.
Then, 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. As our primary example of a giant planet, Jupiter can also provide critical knowledge for understanding the planetary systems being discovered around other stars.
The Juno spacecraft launched Aug. 5, 2011, from Cape Canaveral, Florida. Juno is part of NASA’s New Frontiers Program, managed at Marshall, for the agency’s Science Mission Directorate.
News media interested in covering the event should contact Pat Ammons at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center at 256-721-5429, or Janet Anderson of the Marshall Public & Employee Communications Office at 256-544-0034 no later than 4 p.m. CDT, Tuesday, June 28.
More information about NASA’s New Horizons mission is available at:
More information about the Marshall Center is available at:
More information about the U.S. Space & Rocket Center is available at:
Pat Ammons
U.S. Space & Rocket Center
256-721-5429
pat.ammons@spacecamp.com
Janet Anderson
Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Alabama
256-544-0034
janet.l.anderson@nasa.gov