NASA's Juno apparatus overcame half way to Jupiter
In the space agency NASA told that started two years ago Juno spacecraft crossed half way to Jupiter. As reported in the outer office, on Monday at 16:25 MSK unit crossed the mark v879 733,760 miles - exactly the same as he left to fly to the largest planet in the solar system. As described in the NASA, the unit now has no problems, motor system working as designed , and all the scientific equipment is in sleep mode and will be activated later. "Scientific Group Project Juno forward to the day when the unit will go into orbit around Jupiter," - said Scott Bolton, a senior research project manager. According to him, in orbit around the Yuritera Juno will have to come out July 5, 2016 at about 6:30 MSK .
Recall that a 4-ton unit was launched August 5, 2011 aboard the heavy carrier rocket Atlas 5. From a physical point of view of the gravity of Jupiter is the strongest among all the planets in the solar system, so the machine will operate at a sufficient distance from the planet. However, the planned height of Juno's orbit will allow it to research not only the planet and its satellites, but also the so-called Van Allen radiation belt of Jupiter, which is a three-dimensional ring in front of Jupiter's equator, extending to Jupiter's moon Europa, a remote 650 000 km. It is assumed that operate in orbit around Jupiter, Juno will be at least 15 months. Apparatus Juno will be the first extraterrestrial satellite, placed in a highly elliptical orbit (the device will move in an orbit around Jupiter's "top-down" rather than "left-right" or "right -left ").
This orbit will allow to better understand the unique clouds of the giant planet and to study its structure, formed billions of years ago. installed on the machine 9 different scientific instruments and a camera. With the help of this arsenal Juno will look at Jupiter through his extra thick clouds, to examine the hard core of the planet and the intense magnetic field of Jupiter. Jupiter is composed mostly of hydrogen and helium. Rather, in the center of the planet has a rocky core of heavier elements under high pressure. Because of the rapid rotation of the shape of Jupiter - an oblate spheroid (it possesses a large bulge around the equator).
The outer atmosphere of the planet is clearly divided into a number of elongated strips along latitudes, and this leads to storms and storms along their interacting boundaries. A notable result of this - the Great Red Spot, a giant storm that is known to the XVII century. According to the lander "Galileo", the pressure and temperature in a recess in the atmosphere are rising rapidly. Jupiter's satellite system consists of at least 63 moons, including the four large moons also called "Galilean", which were discovered by Galileo in 1610. Jupiter's moon Ganymede has a diameter exceeding the diameter of Mercury. Beneath the surface of the global ocean is found in Europe, and Io is known for it raged the most powerful in the solar system are active volcanoes. Jupiter has faint planetary ring.
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