I had a great opportunity yesterday to speak with Steve Lee, the curator of Planetary Science at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science and Michael Hardegree-Ullman, who will be a senior at Rocky Mountain High School in Ft. Collins. Michael is part of a 23 person teen science scholars internship that the museum started a few years back. This program introduces students interested in science careers to various aspects of museum research and/or collections work and helps strengthen investigative and communication skills. It’s a terrific program and opportunity for these young people.
Prior to the interview, I listened to Michael in the Space Odyssey exhibition talk a little bit, in front of about 15 people, about the Juno space probe mission to the fifth planet from the Sun, Jupiter. Juno is the second craft to enter Jupiter’s orbit. Galileo was the first. This is the first probe to use solar panels that gives Juno its energy (18,698 individual solar cells to be exact). It approached Jupiter at a clip of 165,00 mph, making it the fastest man-made object ever. Juno is now in a 53 day orbit until October, when it will begin its’ official collection phase. The orbit will be very elliptical, coming as close as 3100 miles above the cloud tops to several million miles away.
Juno’s principal goal is to understand the origin and evolution of Jupiter. With its suite of nine science instruments, Juno will investigate the existence of a solid planetary core, map Jupiter’s intense magnetic field, measure the amount of water and ammonia in the deep atmosphere, and observe the planet’s auroras. The mission also will take a giant step forward in our understanding of how giant planets formed and the role these titans played in putting together the rest of the solar system.
Mr. Lee said by the time the mission is over, in 2018, Juno will have made 37 orbits around Jupiter, ducking in and out of its’ radiation belts. This orbit will allow to view Jupiter’s auroras, similar to those on Earth, but much larger.
This was a fascinating conversation with both individuals and I would highly recommend learning more about the mission in the Space Odyssey exhibition hall. As I mentioned in my previous article on Juno “Juno enters Jupiter’s orbit“, Lockheed Martin Space Systems and the University of Colorado were involved in the making of the probe, but I also learned that United Launch Alliance, which is headquartered in Centennial built the rocket that Juno rode on. Lockheed and Alliance will also be involved in NASA’s future Mars missions.
Howard Wedgle is the publisher of ColoradoGrandparent.com.