Juno's Flyby of the Earth and Moon

This movie sequence of images was captured by a star tracker camera on NASA's Jupiter-bound Juno spacecraft. It was taken over several days as Juno approached Earth for a close flyby that would send the spacecraft onward to the giant planet. Although grainy and over-exposed, the images provide a nonetheless remarkable and uncommon view from a human-made craft approaching our world from deep space.

The images that make up this movie sequence were acquired by one of the four cameras that comprise Juno's Advanced Stellar Compass, or ASC -- a key component of the Juno magnetometer experiment. The ASC cameras provide images of the stars that reveal precisely the spacecraft's orientation in space, which will be vital for determining the strength and direction of Jupiter's magnetic field once Juno arrives there in 2016.

As star trackers, the cameras were not designed for imaging the planets. This sequence exists because of their serendipitous placement on the spacecraft -- situated on Juno's magnetometer boom, at the end of one of the craft's large solar arrays. The cameras happened to be pointed in Juno's direction of motion during the flyby, allowing this movie sequence to be obtained.

The movie begins at 2:00 UTC on October 6, more than four days before Juno's closest approach, when the spacecraft was approximately 2.1 million miles (3.3 million kilometers) from Earth. Earth's moon is seen transiting in front of our planet, and then moves out of frame toward the right as Juno enters the space inside the orbit of our natural satellite. As Juno gets closer to Earth, hints of clouds and continents are visible before the planet's brightness overwhelms the cameras, which were not designed to image so bright an object. The sequence ends as Earth passes out of view, which corresponds to approximately 17:35 UTC October 9 when Juno was at an altitude of about 47,000 miles (76,000 kilometers) above Earth's surface.

The sequence is replayed in the second half of this movie at two times and eight times magnification.

As Juno is a spinning spacecraft, the images were aligned to remove their apparent rotation. The original ASC images are monochrome; faint coloration has been added by converting the measured grayscale values into false colors matching a true color image of Earth.

Music Courtesy: Vangelis (used with permission).

Video credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/DTU

Note: For more information, see PIA17744: Juno Detects a Ham Radio "HI" from Earth and NASA's Juno Gives Starship-Like View of Earth Flyby.

Earth, by Juno

On October 9, NASA's Juno spacecraft flew past Earth, using our home planet's gravity to get the final boost it needed to reach Jupiter. The JunoCam instrument captured this monochrome view of Earth, and other instruments were tested to ensure they work as designed during a close planetary encounter.

The Juno spacecraft was launched from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida on August 5, 2011. Juno's rocket, the Atlas 551, was only capable of giving Juno enough energy or speed to reach the asteroid belt, at which point the Sun's gravity pulled Juno back toward the inner solar system. The Earth flyby gravity assist put Juno on course for arrival at Jupiter on July 4, 2016.

Photo credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Malin Space Science Systems

Note: For more information, see PIA17516: Juno's Earth Flyby (Artist's Rendering).

Juno's Two Deep Space Maneuvers are 'Back-To-Back Home Runs'

NASA's Juno spacecraft successfully executed a second Deep Space Maneuver, called DSM-2 last Friday, September 14. The 30 minute firing of its main engine refined the Jupiter-bound spacecraft's trajectory, setting the stage for a gravity assist from a flyby of Earth on October 9, 2013. Juno will arrive at Jupiter on July 4, 2016.

The maneuver began at 3:30 p.m. PDT (6:30 p.m. EDT), when the Leros-1b main engine began to fire. The burn ended at 4 p.m. PDT (7 p.m. EDT). Based on telemetry, the Juno project team believes the burn was accurate, changing the spacecraft's velocity by about 867 mph (388 meters a second) while consuming about 829 pounds (376 kilograms) of fuel.

The burn occurred when Juno was more than 298 million miles (480 million kilometers) from Earth.

Juno executed its first deep space maneuver (DSM-1), one of comparable duration and velocity change, on August 30. Together, both maneuvers placed Juno on course for its Earth flyby, which will occur as the spacecraft is completing one elliptical orbit around the sun. The Earth flyby will boost Juno's velocity by 16,330 mph (about 7.3 kilometers per second), placing the spacecraft on its final flight path for Jupiter. The closest approach to Earth, on October 9, 2013, will occur when Juno is at an altitude of about 348 miles (560 kilometers).

"It feels like we hit back-to-back home runs here with the near-flawless propulsion system performance seen during both DSM-1 and DSM-2." said Juno Project Manager Rick Nybakken of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. "These successes move us closer to being ready for our most critical mission event, the Jupiter Orbit Insertion main engine burn in July 2016. We're not in the playoffs yet, as that will come in 2016 when we arrive at Jupiter, but it does feel fantastic to have hit both of these DSMs out of the park."

Juno was launched on August 5, 2011. Once in orbit, the spacecraft will circle Jupiter 33 times, from pole to pole, and use its collection of eight science instruments to probe beneath the gas giant's obscuring cloud cover. Juno's science team will learn about Jupiter's origins, structure, atmosphere and magnetosphere, and look for a potential solid planetary core.

Juno's name comes from Greek and Roman mythology. The god Jupiter drew a veil of clouds around himself to hide his mischief, and his wife, the goddess Juno, was able to peer through the clouds and reveal Jupiter's true nature.

Illustration credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Earth and Moon, by Juno

On its way to the biggest planet in the solar system -- Jupiter, NASA's Juno spacecraft took time to capture its home planet and its natural satellite -- the Moon.

"This is a remarkable sight people get to see all too rarely," said Scott Bolton, Juno principal investigator from the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio. "This view of our planet shows how Earth looks from the outside, illustrating a special perspective of our role and place in the universe. We see a humbling yet beautiful view of ourselves."

The image was taken by the spacecraft’s camera, JunoCam, on August 26 when the spacecraft was about 6 million miles (9.66 million kilometers) away. The image was taken as part of the mission team’s checkout of the Juno spacecraft. The team is conducting its initial detailed checks on the spacecraft’s instruments and subsystems after its launch on August 5.

Juno covered the distance from Earth to the Moon (about 250,000 miles or 402,000 kilometers) in less than one day's time. It will take the spacecraft another five years and 1,740 million miles (2,800 million kilometers) to complete the journey to Jupiter. The spacecraft will orbit the planet's poles 33 times and use its eight science instruments to probe beneath the gas giant's obscuring cloud cover to learn more about its origins, structure, atmosphere and magnetosphere, and look for a potential solid planetary core.

The solar-powered Juno spacecraft lifted off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida at 9:25 a.m. PDT (12:25 p.m. EDT) on August 5 to begin its five-year journey to Jupiter.

Photo credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

The Launch of Juno

The first video is an "official" video, compiled from several different camera angles and including, toward the end, some animation sequences showing events in the launch sequence that could not be captured with cameras. The second video is a compilation of a number of launch videos from various cameras both on the ground and on board the rocket.

NASA's Juno spacecraft is on its way to Jupiter after being launched aboard an Atlas V rocket from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida on August 5 at 11:25 a.m. Eastern. The solar-powered spacecraft will arrive at Jupiter in July 2016 and orbit its poles 33 times to find out more about the gas giant's interior, atmosphere and aurora. Scientists believe Jupiter holds the key to better understanding the origins of our solar system.

Video credit: NASA

Juno Being Lowered into Position

At Space Launch Complex 41, the Juno spacecraft, enclosed in an Atlas payload fairing, was transferred into the Vertical Integration Facility where it was positioned on top of the Atlas rocket stacked inside.

Photo credit: NASA/Kennedy Space Center

Juno's Solar Array

In this image technicians stow for launch solar array #2 for NASA's Juno spacecraft. The photo was taken on May 20, 2011 at the Astrotech payload processing facility in Titusville, Florida. NASA's Juno spacecraft is scheduled to launch aboard an Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral, Florida. August 5. The solar-powered spacecraft will orbit Jupiter's poles 33 times to find out more about the gas giant's origins, structure, atmosphere and magnetosphere and investigate the existence of a solid planetary core.

Photo credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/KSC

Juno

Launching from Earth in 2011, the Juno spacecraft will arrive at Jupiter in 2016 to study the giant planet from an elliptical, polar orbit. Juno will repeatedly dive between the planet and its intense belts of charged particle radiation, coming only 5,000 kilometers (about 3,000 miles) from the cloud tops at closest approach.

Juno's primary goal is to improve our understanding of Jupiter's formation and evolution. The spacecraft will spend a year investigating the planet's origins, interior structure, deep atmosphere and magnetosphere. Juno's study of Jupiter will help us to understand the history of our own solar system and provide new insight into how planetary systems form and develop in our galaxy and beyond.

Illustration credit: NASA/JPL