TOPIC: Awareness in the fields of IT, Space, Computers, robotics, nano-technology, bio-technology and issues relating to intellectual property rights.
- Juno is a solar powered aircraft of NASA that began its journey five years back, in 2011.
- It entered Jupiter’s orbit on July 5, 2016 without being knocked down by its intense magnetic field and radiation.
- It is perhaps the key to how the solar system was formed.
- Jupiter, according to experts, was the first planet formed in the solar system.
- It is equipped with nine sophisticated instruments to:
- study the existence of a solid planetary core
- to map the planet’s intense magnetic field
- measure the amount of water and ammonia in its atmosphere
- observe auroras on Jupiter
- understand how such huge planets are formed and what role they play in the formation of the rest of the system.
- to understand the planetary systems being discovered around other stars.
Also read: NATGRID- National Intelligence Grid
- It is not the first spacecraft to enter into Jupiter’s orbit.
- Galileo spacecraft from 1995 to 2003, explored the giant planet.
- But Juno is better equipped than its predecessor and has the ability to look below the dense cloud cover of Jupiter.
- It will orbit the planet 37 times from pole-to-pole, minimizing the amount of radiation exposure. But its orbit will eventually shift due to Jupiter’s intense gravitational field.
- This will make the spacecraft pass through regions of more intense radiations.
- Ultimately it will burn up in Jupiter’s atmosphere in 2018 to avoid any biological contamination of any one of its moons, particularly Europa which is believed to have a large ocean beneath its surface (a sign of life)
- and it’s journey will come to an end.
