NASA is a planning a mission to Jupiter to perform a detailed analysis of the planet. Juno, as the project is known, has made it through the concept stage, so design work on the spacecraft can begin shortly.
The Juno mission is as follows:
"The Juno spacecraft would be placed in a polar orbit around Jupiter. This would allow it to perform detailed gravitational measurements that could detect whether or not Jupiter has an ice-rock core beneath its clouds of hydrogen and helium. The mission will also study the composition of Jupiter's atmosphere, determining the amounts of water and ammonia present. Another investigation will be a study of convection within Jupiter's atmosphere and the profiles of deep winds. In addition, Juno will explore Jupiter's magnetosphere, especially in the unmapped polar regions, and attempt to determine the origin of the jovian magnetic field."
The specifics of Juno's funding, through the New Frontiers program, state that it must be launched by June 30, 2010, and has a maximum mission cost of $700 million.
The name Juno comes from Roman mythology. Juno was the Queen of the Gods and Jupiter's wife.
Contest?
