Nasa launches Juno probe on five-year mission to Jupiter two weeks after the shuttle programme ends



It will go into orbit around Jupiter in July 2016, after travelling 1.74bn miles

Once its work is done in 2017, it will make a kamikaze dive into Jupiter

Nasa’s $1.1 billion Juno mission was today hurtling on a path to Jupiter after an ear-splitting launch from Florida, marking the start of a new era of exploration at the US space agency.

The pioneering spacecraft roared off its seaside launch pad at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station mounted aboard the most powerful Atlas V rocket ever constructed, creating a trail of fire and smoke at the start of its six-year, 1.7 million-mile odyssey as scientists cheered and yelled 'Go Juno!'



Juno, the second in a series of five major unmanned missions to explore the solar system, will help restore public kudos and purpose to Nasa following the retirement of its shuttle fleet, which has left it without a vehicle of its own to send astronauts into space for at least five years.

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Nasa launched the spacecraft atop an unmanned Atlas V rocket that blasted into a clear midday sky as scientists cheered and yelled 'Go Juno!'

The spacecraft will take 5 five years to reach orbit around Jupiter and then spend about one year gathering information on Jupiter' magnetic field, atmosphere and interior 'We were reminded today, in dramatic fashion, that Nasa is still open for business and leading the world in space exploration,' said Nasa’s chief, Charlie Bolden.



JUNO: THE LONG JOURNEY AHEAD

It will take Juno five years to reach its target, five times farther from the sun than Earth. No spacecraft has ever ventured so far, powered by solar wings. Europe's solar-powered, comet-chasing Rosetta probe made it as far as the asteroid belt between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. Each of Juno's three wings is 29ft long and 9ft wide, necessary given that Jupiter receives 25 times less sunlight than Earth.

The panels - folded for launch - emanate from the spacecraft much like the blades of a windmill. At Jupiter, nearly 500million miles from the sun, Juno's panels will provide 400 watts of power.

In orbit around Earth, these panels would generate 35 times as much power.

'Our future in space exploration is bright and holds many such cutting-edge science missions that will help us better understand our solar system and an ever-increasing array of challenging destinations where humans might travel.'

The project has been ten years in the making, involving scientists and spacecraft engineers from more than 20 institutions in the US and Europe.



Juno is set to beam back the most comprehensive data and close-up images ever gathered from the so-called King of the Planets, a giant gas ball so vast that it could swallow Earth 1,200 times over.

Astrophysicists believe that by understanding the composition and structure of Jupiter, the earliest and largest of the planets in our solar system, they will be able to piece together answers to enticing questions about the origins of the universe more than 4.5 billion years ago - and how, when and why life on Earth began.

'Ignition and lift off of the Atlas V with Juno, on a trek to Jupiter - a planetary piece of the puzzle on the beginning of our solar system,' announced Nasa launch commentator George Diller.

Juno blasted off with ear piercing speed, but will become the fastest-travelling man-made object ever as it gets closer to Jupiter, drawn in by the planet’s enormous magnetic field, when it will be travelling at 160,000mph

Environmentally-friendly: The windmill-shaped craft is equipped with three tractor-trailer-size solar panels for its two billion-mile journey into the outer solar system

Project managers hugged and slapped one another with high-fives in celebration of the successful launch. The 20-storey stack lifted off 51 minutes late due to a last-minute ground control anomaly, lifting into a clear blue patch of sky and accelerating from zero to 700mph in just 30 seconds.



It shed its record five solid rocket boosters as planned during its high-speed climb to Earth orbit, where it then 'parked' for half an hour before two burns of its Centaur engine turned it on the correct trajectory for Jupiter.

Over the next five years, the unmanned vehicle will fly a looping path taking it out past Mars orbit and back for a fly-by of the Earth in 2013, when it will use our planet’s gravity to slingshot itself further out towards Jupiter. It will be powered only by solar energy, making it the furthest-travelled spacecraft ever driven by the Sun.

As Juno cartwheels closer to Jupiter, it will become drawn in by the planet’s enormous magnetic field, which stretches 2.6 million miles and is nearly 20,000 times as powerful as Earth’s. Travelling at 160,000mph, Juno will become the fastest-travelling man-made object ever.

How it will look: Each of Juno's three wings is 29ft long and 9ft wide. The panels - folded for launch - are here seen emanating from the spacecraft much like the blades of a windmill

Long journey ahead: It will take Juno five years to reach its target, five times farther from the sun than Earth



The 11.5ft (3.5metre) probe will get closer to Jupiter than any previous mission, making its closest approach 3,100 miles (5,000kms) above the planet’s cloud tops and using its suite of nine onboard instruments to peer through them.

If Jupiter was the size of a basketball, the equivalent distance would be just 0.8 centimetres (0.3 inches). The vehicle is named after the goddess Juno, who according to Roman mythology could see through the clouds that her husband Jupiter, the kind of the gods – would draw around him So vast and deadly are the radiation fields around Jupiter that the spacecraft will be bombarded by the equivalent of 100 million dental X-rays as it spends its sixth year in space orbiting Jupiter, completing 33 laps of the planet as it measures its gravitational and magnetic fields, takes data from its deep atmosphere and unlocks the mysteries of the planet’s brilliant auroras – its northern and southern lights.

Passengers: Three Lego figurines representing the Roman god Jupiter, his wife Juno and Galileo Galilei will travel aboard the Juno spacecraft on its journey to Jupiter Destination: Jupiter as seen by the New Horizons spacecraft in 2007

It will also determine whether Jupiter has a solid, rotating core deep within its mass of helium and hydrogen gases.

Juno’s command and data handling box – the spacecraft’s 'brain' – and other electronic assemblies have been encased inside a titanium vault around the size of a large car boot to protect them from the immense radiation, which would otherwise wreck them.

Maj-Gen Bolden said: 'The largest planet in our neighbourhood is about to reveal its secrets, and everything Juno finds will help us understand more about the origins and evolution of our solar system.



'This is exciting stuff. The kind of thing that inspires young people to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. The kind of thing that NASA has become known for - and the kind of thing we’re going to keep doing for decades to come.'

WATCH THE TAKE OFF:





