Lockheed Martin-built Juno Spacecraft Lifts Off for Six Year Voyage to Jupiter

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Lockheed Martin-built Juno Spacecraft Lifts Off for Six Year Voyage to Jupiter
UNITED STATES - 5 AUGUST 2011

NASA Mission to Explore the Origins of Jupiter

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla., August 5th, 2011 -- NASA's Juno spacecraft, designed and built by Lockheed Martin [NYSE: LMT], was successfully launched this morning from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station at 12:25 p.m. EDT aboard an Atlas V 551 rocket provided by United Launch Alliance.

Five minutes after separation from the Centaur upper stage, the Juno spacecraft deployed its three large solar arrays and started producing power. Initial contact with the spacecraft was obtained by the mission's Flight Operations team at Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company's facility near Denver.

"Early telemetry from the spacecraft indicated that all major subsystems are healthy," said Tim Gasparrini, Juno spacecraft program manager at Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company. "Launch and initial acquisition is the first of our critical events, and they couldn't have gone smoother. Our team is thrilled that we're on our way to Jupiter to help NASA and the science community understand the origins of our solar system."

Scheduled to arrive at Jupiter in July 2016, the spacecraft will spend a little more than a year orbiting over the poles of the gas giant while studying the planet's origins, structure, atmosphere and magnetosphere.

"Today's successful launch is a direct reflection of the dedication and hard work the entire Juno team has given to this program over the past six years," said Jim Crocker, vice president and general manager of Sensing and Exploration Systems at Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company. "Our team and I are extremely proud to deliver mission success for such longstanding customers as NASA and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory."

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., manages the Juno mission for the principal investigator, Scott Bolton, of Southwest Research Institute at San Antonio. The Juno mission is part of the New Frontiers Program managed at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala. Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver, is building the spacecraft. The Italian Space Agency in Rome is contributing an infrared spectrometer instrument and a portion of the radio science experiment. Launch management for the mission is the responsibility of NASA's Launch Services Program at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena.

Source: Lockheed Martin

 

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Juno

Mission Overview

Juno's goal is to understand the origin and evolution of Jupiter. As the archetype of giant planets, Jupiter can provide the knowledge we need to understand the origin of our own solar system and the planetary systems being discovered around other stars.

Juno will make global maps of the gravity, magnetic fields, and atmospheric composition of Jupiter from a unique polar orbit. Juno's 32 orbits will extensively sample Jupiter's full range of latitudes and longitudes. From its polar perspective Juno combines in-situ and remote sensing observations to explore the polar magnetosphere and determine what drives Jupiter's remarkable auroras. The elliptical orbit swings below radiation belts to minimize radiation exposure.

Mission Dates

Start of ATLO: April 1, 2010
Launch date: Aug. 5, 2011
Earth Flyby: October 2013
Arrival at Jupiter: July 2016
End of Mission (de-orbit): October 2017

Spacecraft

Lockheed Martin designed and built the Juno spacecraft for NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). The spacecraft is solar powered and spin-stabilized.

Science Instruments

Juno's payload spans nine instrument suites, comprised of 26 separate sensors.

Gravity Science: X and Ka-band Doppler gravity measurements will map Jupiter's interior structure (JPL)

MAG (Magnetometer): Fluxgate magnetometers guided by advanced stellar cameras map Jupiter's interior structure and magnetic dynamo (Goddard Space Flight Center and Danish Technical University)

MWR (Microwave Radiometer): Multiple antennas map Jupiter's microwave brightness for deep atmosphere sounding and composition (JPL)

JEDI (Jupiter Energetic-particle Detector Instrument): Particle detectors map electron energy and ion energy/composition over both polar regions (APL/Johns Hopkins University).

JADE (Jovian Auroral Distributions Experiment): Electron and ion detectors map electron energy and ion energy/composition over both polar regions (Southwest Research Institute)

Waves: Electric and magnetic antennas measure radio and plasma waves in Jupiter's polar magnetosphere (University of Iowa)

UVS (Ultraviolet Spectrometer): Characterizes spatial, spectral and temporal auroral structure (Southwest Research Institute)

JIRAM (Jupiter Infrared Auroral Mapper): An infrared camera observes the auroral structure, troposphere structure, and atmospheric sounding (SolexGalileo).

Junocam: An education and public outreach visible-light camera provides first pictures of Jupiter's poles (Malin Space Science Systems).

Science Objectives

Juno's science objectives span Jupiter's origin and interior through its atmosphere all the way out to its luminous aurora and polar magnetosphere. Peering down into Jupiter's atmosphere, Juno reveals fundamental processes of the formation and early evolution of our solar system. Juno's investigation focuses on four themes:

Origins: Determine the ratio of oxygen to hydrogen, giving an idea of the abundance of water on Jupiter. Obtain a better estimate of Jupiter's core mass, which will help distinguish among prevailing theories linking the gas giant's formation to the solar system.
Interior: Precisely map Jupiter's gravitational and magnetic fields to assess the distribution of mass in Jupiter's interior, including properties of the planet's structure and dynamics.
Atmosphere: Map the variation in atmospheric composition, temperature structure, cloud opacity and dynamics to depths far greater than 100 bars at all latitudes.
Magnetosphere: Characterize and explore the three dimensional structure of Jupiter's polar magnetosphere and its auroras.


Source: Lockheed Martin

 

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Aerojet Solid Rocket Boosters Help Launch Juno Mission
UNITED STATES - 9 AUGUST 2011

Sacramento, Calif. - Aerojet, a GenCorp (NYSE: GY) company, announced its key role in the successful launch of United Launch Alliance's (ULA) Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral, Fla., carrying NASA's Juno spacecraft on a mission toward Jupiter.

Launching in a 551 configuration, Aerojet provided 1.9 million lbs. of liftoff thrust from five solid rocket boosters (SRBs), eight retro-rockets for the Centaur separation from the Atlas common core booster, 12 reaction control thrusters for the Centaur upper stage as well as 12 monopropellant hydrazine Rocket Engine Assemblies (REAs) fixed to the Juno spacecraft.

Aerojet's SRBs on the Atlas V vehicle are 67-feet long and provide a liftoff thrust of 380,000 lbs. each. Aerojet SRBs have flown in previous vehicle configurations using one, two, three and five boosters. This was the 13th successful Atlas V launch with Aerojet SRBs.

Eight Aerojet retro rockets assisted with the Atlas Centaur separation from the launch vehicle. In addition, 12 monopropellant hydrazine REAs will provide attitude control for the Juno spacecraft throughout its journey and insertion into Jupiter's orbit slated for July 2016. Twelve Aerojet monopropellant (hydrazine) thrusters on the Atlas V Centaur upper stage provided roll, pitch and yaw control as well as settling burns for the upper stage main engine. All Atlas launches since the late 1980s have included Aerojet monopropellant reaction control thrusters on the Centaur upper stage.

The objective of NASA's Jupiter bound mission is to create an understanding of the formation, evolution and structure of Jupiter. Juno will arrive at Jupiter in 2016 for a one-year mission comprising 33 orbits. It will carry a color camera and return the first-ever images of Jupiter's poles. This launch marks NASA's second spacecraft designed under the New Frontiers Program.

"The successful launch of the Juno spacecraft is a tremendous achievement for the nation and Aerojet is proud of our key role in both the launch and space vehicles," said Vice President of Space and Launch Systems, Julie Van Kleeck. "The success of these propulsion systems continues our tradition of 100 percent mission success for NASA's space and planetary missions."


Source : Aerojet