Juno is a NASA mission to the gas giant Jupiter that was launched in 2011 and will enter into a Jovian orbit in 2016. The mission duration at Jupiter will be only about one year, since Juno will make 32 low polar orbits that will lead the spacecraft partly through an intense radiation environment. The overarching goal of Juno is to understand Jupiter’s origin and evolution.
The spacecraft consists primarily of a hexagonal central body with a high-gain antenna for data transmission to Earth, and three large solar panels provide energy to power the spacecraft and the scientific instruments. Juno is a spinning spacecraft and the first mission to Jupiter using solar panels. Another key scientific focus is Jupiter’s polar magnetosphere which is uncharted territory. The Juno WAVES instrument, mainly built by the University of Iowa, will investigate the auroral acceleration region and measure radio and plasma waves. IWF scientists and engineers work on the antenna calibration of the WAVES instrument.
Further information on Juno is found at NASA.
- Department of Physics and Astronomy
University of Iowa
613 Van Allen Hall Iowa City, IA 52242-1479, USA. - Technische Universität Dresden,
Institut für Nachrichtentechnik
Georg-Schumann-Str. 9, 01187 Dresden, Germany
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