PRESS KIT/AUGUST 2011 Juno Launch Media Contacts Dwayne Brown Policy/Program 202-358-1726 NASA Headquarters Management [email protected] Washington DC Agle Juno Mission 818-393-9011 Jet Propulsion [email protected] Laboratory Pasadena, Calif. Maria Martinez Science Investigation 210-522-3305 Southwest Research Institute [email protected] San Antonio Gary Napier Spacecraft 303-971-4012 Lockheed Martin Space Systems [email protected] Denver Juno Launch 2 Press Kit Contents Media Services Information. 5 Quick Facts .................................................................6 Jupiter at a Glance ............................................................7 Why Juno? . 8 Mission Overview . 9 Mission Phases . 10 Spacecraft . .15 Science Overview ............................................................21 Missions to Jupiter ...........................................................23 Program/Project Management ..................................................24 Juno Launch 3 Press Kit Media Services Information NASA Television Transmission Launch Status The NASA TV Media Channel is available on an MPEG-2 Recorded status reports will be available beginning two digital C-band signal accessed via satellite AMC-6, at 72 days before launch at 321-867-2525 and 301-286- degrees west longitude, transponder 17C, 4040 MHz, NEWS. vertical polarization. In Alaska and Hawaii, it’s available on AMC-7 at 137 degrees west longitude, transpon- Internet Information der 18C, at 4060 MHz, horizontal polarization. A Digital Video Broadcast compliant Integrated Receiver Decoder More information on the Juno mission, including an is required for reception. For digital downlink information electronic copy of this press kit, news releases, status for NASA TV’s Media Channel, access to NASA TV’s reports and images, can be found at http://missionjuno. Public Channel on the Web and a schedule of program- swri.edu/ and http://www.nasa.gov/juno/ . ming for Juno activities, visit http://www.nasa.gov/ntv . Media Credentialing News media representatives who wish to cover the Juno launch must contact NASA Kennedy Space Center Public Affairs in advance at: 321-867-2468. Briefings A pre-launch news conference will be held at the Kennedy Space Center Press Site at 1 p.m. EDT on Aug. 3, 2011. The news conference will be televised on NASA TV. Juno Launch 5 Press Kit Quick Facts Mission Name Juno Mission Milestones and Distances Traveled The Juno spacecraft will, for the first time, see below Launch period: Aug. 5–26, 2011 (22 days) Jupiter’s dense cover of clouds. This is why the mis- sion was named after the Roman goddess, who was Launch location: Pad SLC-41, Cape Canaveral Air Force Jupiter’s wife, and who could also see through clouds. Station, Fla. Earth–Jupiter distance at time of launch: 445 million Spacecraft miles (716 million kilometers) Dimensions: 11.5 feet (3.5 meters) high, 11.5 feet Time it takes light to travel from Earth to Jupiter on (3.5 meters) in diameter. Aug. 5, 2011: 39 minutes, 50 seconds Solar Arrays: length of each solar array 29.5 feet (9 me- Earth gravity assist flyby: October 9, 2013 ters) by 8.7 feet (2.65 meters). Total surface area of Distance Juno travels launch to Earth gravity assist: solar arrays: more than 650-feet (60-meters) squared. 994 million miles (1,600 million kilometers) Total number of individual solar cells: 18,698. Total power output (Earth distance from sun): approximately Juno’s altitude over Earth’s surface at closest point dur- 14 kilowatts; (Jupiter distance from sun): approximately ing gravity assist: 311 miles (500 kilometers) 400 watts. Jupiter arrival: July 4, 2016, 7:29 p.m. (PDT) Weight: 7,992 pounds (3,625 kilograms) total at launch, Distance of Jupiter to Earth at time of Jupiter orbit inser- consisting of 3,513 pounds (1,593 kilograms) of space- tion: 540 million miles (869 million kilometers) craft, 2,821 pounds (1,280 kilograms) of fuel and 1,658 pounds (752 kilograms) of oxidizer. One-way speed-of-light time from Jupiter to Earth in July 2016: 48 minutes, 19 seconds Launch Vehicle Total distance traveled, launch to Jupiter orbit insertion: Type: Atlas V551 (Atlas first stage with five solid rocket 1,740 million miles (2,800 million kilometers) boosters, Centaur upper stage) End of mission (deorbit): October 16, 2017 Height with payload: 197 feet (60 meters) Distance traveled in orbit around Jupiter: 348 million miles (560 million kilometers) Mass fully fueled: 1,265,255 pounds (574,072 kilo- grams) Total distance, launch through Jupiter impact: 2,106 mil- lion miles (3,390 million kilometers) Program The Juno mission investment is approximately $1.1 bil- lion in total. This cost includes spacecraft develop- ment, science instruments, launch services, mission operations, science processing and relay support for 74 months. Juno Launch 6 Press Kit Jupiter at a Glance If you take everything else in the solar system (not including the sun), it would all fit inside Jupiter… The largest and most massive of the planets was tapers into a windsock-shaped tail extending more than named after the king of the gods, called Zeus by the 600 million miles (1 billion kilometers) behind Jupiter, as Greeks and Jupiter by the Romans; he was the most far as Saturn’s orbit. important deity in both pantheons. On Jan. 7, 1610, using his primitive telescope, astrono- As the most massive inhabitant of our solar system, mer Galileo Galilei saw four small “stars” near Jupiter. and with four large moons of its own and many smaller He had discovered Jupiter’s four largest moons, now moons, Jupiter forms its own kind of miniature solar called Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto. These four system. In fact, Jupiter resembles a star in composi- moons are known today as the Galilean satellites. Not tion, and if it had been about 80 times more massive, it including the “temporary” moons, Jupiter has 64 con- would have become a star rather than a planet. firmed moons. (Temporary moons are comets that have been temporarily captured by Jupiter’s massive gravity Jupiter’s appearance is a tapestry of beautiful colors field. These temporary satellites may circle Jupiter for and atmospheric features. Most visible clouds are years before continuing on their way through the solar composed of ammonia. Water clouds exist deep below system or burn up as they enter its atmosphere.) Jupiter and can sometimes be seen through clear spots in the has three thin rings around its equator, which are much clouds. The planet’s “stripes” are created by strong fainter than the rings of Saturn. Jupiter’s rings appear to east-west winds in Jupiter’s upper atmosphere. Within consist mostly of fine dust particles and may be formed these belts and zones are storm systems that can rage by dust kicked up as interplanetary meteoroids smash for years. The Great Red Spot, a giant spinning storm, into the giant planet’s four small inner moons. They were has been observed for more than 300 years. In recent discovered in 1979 by NASA’s Voyager 1 spacecraft. years, three storms merged to form the Little Red Spot, about half the size of the Great Red Spot. The composition of Jupiter is similar to that of the sun — Significant Dates in Jovian History mostly hydrogen and helium. Deep in the atmosphere, the pressure and temperature increase, compressing • 1610: Galileo Galilei makes the first detailed the hydrogen gas into a liquid. At depths of about a third observations of Jupiter. of the way down, the hydrogen becomes a liquid that • 1973: NASA’s Pioneer 10 becomes the first conducts electricity like a metal. It is in this metallic layer spacecraft to cross the asteroid belt and fly that scientists think Jupiter’s powerful magnetic field is past Jupiter. generated by electrical currents driven by Jupiter’s fast • 1979: NASA’s Voyager 1 and 2 discover rotation. At the center, the immense pressure may sup- Jupiter’s faint rings, several new moons and port a core of heavy elements much larger than Earth. volcanic activity on Io’s surface. Jupiter’s enormous magnetic field is nearly 20,000 • 1994: Astronomers and NASA’s Galileo space- times as powerful as Earth’s. Trapped within Jupiter’s craft observe as pieces of comet Shoemaker- magnetosphere (the vast area of space that the planet’s Levy 9 collide with Jupiter’s southern hemi- magnetic field dominates) are swarms of charged par- sphere. ticles. The magnetic field traps some of these electrons • 1995: The Galileo spacecraft and probe arrive and ions in an intense radiation belt that bathes Jupiter’s at Jupiter to explore Jupiter’s atmosphere rings and moons. The Jovian magnetosphere, compris- directly for the first time and to conduct an ing these particles and fields, balloons 600,000 to 2 mil- extended study of the giant planet system. lion miles (1 to 3 million kilometers) toward the sun and Juno Launch 7 Press Kit Why Juno? Jupiter is by far the largest planet in the solar system. Juno’s primary goal is to reveal the story of the formation Humans have been studying it for hundreds of years, and evolution of the planet Jupiter. Using long-proven yet still many basic questions about the gas world technologies on a spinning spacecraft placed in an el- remain. In 1995, NASA’s Galileo mission made the voy- liptical polar orbit, Juno will observe Jupiter’s gravity and age to Jupiter. One of its jobs was to drop a probe into magnetic fields, atmospheric dynamics and composi- Jupiter’s atmosphere. The data returned from that probe tion, and the coupling between the interior, atmosphere showed us that Jupiter’s composition was different than and magnetosphere that determines the planet’s prop- scientists thought, indicating that our theories of plan- erties and drives its evolution.