NASA's Juno spacecraft lifted off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida on
August 5. 2011. beginning a five-year. 1.7 billion mile journey to study Jupiter.
A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket lofted the 4-ton. solar-powered spacecraft from
Space Launch Complex-41 at 12:25pm Eastern Time.
Juno's detailed study of the largest planet in our solar system will help reveal Jupiter's
origin and evolution. Jupiter can help scientists understand the origin of our solar
system and learn more about planetary systems around other stars.
By far the oldest planet in our solar system. Jupiter contains more material than all the
other planets. asteroids and comets combined.
Scott Bolton Principal Investigator. Juno: The special thing about Juno is we're really looking
at one of the first steps. the earliest time in our solar system's history.
Right after the sun formed. what happened that allowed the planets to form and why are
the planets a slightly different composition than the sun?"
The spacecraft will orbit the planet's poles 33 times and use its collection of eight
science instruments to probe beneath the gas giant's obscuring cloud cover.
Getting Juno on a course to reach the distant planet is the job of an Atlas V rocket.
one of the largest in NASA's catalog.
Omar Baez. Launch Director. Juno: "It's flown quite successfully like I said. 28 times. pretty challenging
missions. pretty challenging payloads. It's got a heritage that goes back to the Atlas I in
some of the components and in the upper stage. so it's an evolution of a family in its
current configuration and shape and form. I'd say it's pretty robust."
Even riding a powerful rocket into space will not be enough on its own to push Juno to
its target. The spacecraft still needs the kind of assist only a planet can provide.
That's why Juno will go into an orbit that will bring it past Earth two years after launch
and use the Earth's gravity to slingshot it out to Jupiter. arriving there in August 2016.