Juno Jupiter Orbiter ready for tomorrow's launch

[pokerfan]

The Atlas V rocket that will power NASA’s new Juno science probe to Jupiter was rolled out to the launch pad at Space Launch Complex 41 and now sits poised for blastoff on Friday, Aug. 5 at 11:34 a.m. from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.

http://www.universetoday.com/87925/juno-jupiter-orbiter-poised-at-launch-pad-for-aug-5-blastoff

[neverforget]

1. A friend of mine worked on the rocket engine motors at Lockheed

Awesome mission!

[pokerfan]

2. Very cool

[bananas]

6. LEGO Figures Flying On NASA Jupiter Probe

Tell him congratulations and send him this for fun:

http://www.space.com/12546-lego-figures-jupiter-juno-spacecraft.html

LEGO Figures Flying On NASA Jupiter Probe
by Robert Z. Pearlman, collectSPACE.com Editor
Date: 04 August 2011 Time: 04:26 PM ET


Three LEGO figurines representing the Roman god Jupiter (right), his wife Juno (middle) and Galileo Galilei (left) as shown here will fly to Jupiter on NASA’s Juno spacecraft.
CREDIT: NASA/LEGO/collectSPACE.com
View full size image

They have launched aboard the space shuttle, visited the space station and flown to Mars. Now, three more "very special" LEGO figurines are set to fly to Jupiter with NASA's Juno spacecraft.

The specially-constructed LEGO Minifigures are of the Roman god Jupiter, his wife Juno, and "father of science" Galileo Galilei. The LEGO crew's mission is part of the Bricks in Space project, the joint outreach and educational program developed as part of the collaboration between NASA and the LEGO Group to inspire children to explore science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.

"NASA has a long-standing partnership with the LEGO company," Scott Bolton, principal investigator for the Juno mission and space science and engineering director at the Southwestern Research Institute in San Antonio, said in a press conference on Wednesday (Aug. 3). "Any of you that have children know that LEGOs are very popular with kids, as well as really helps teach them about building and engineering."

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[byronius]

3. Go go go go go!!!

Thrilling.

[Phoonzang]

4. I don't really understand why they're sending a probe to study Jupiter itself

when the moons are far, far, far more interesting. Oh well.

[laconicsax]

5. Because the planet is more interesting.

Yes the moons are fascinating, but from the standpoint of researching the formation of the solar system, Jupiter is far more important.

Plus, there's not much more that can be done with the moons until robotic landers are more well developed.

[Phoonzang]

7. A matter of opinon I suppose...

While the researching the formation of the solar system is important, I personally find studying existing, rocky bodies with water ice and possibly oceans (Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto) to be of more interest. We haven't launched a probe dedicated to looking at the moons since 1989...imagine what we could see with today's technology. I think we could answer many of the questions about the moons, specifically Europa's ocean, right now...without landers. I mean look at how much we're discovering about Mars just from orbit.

Besides, since it looks like they've cancelled JIMO, there's no plans to explore the moons at any time in the near future (pre-2020s).

[n2doc]

8. Launched!

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/juno/news/juno20110805.html

Update: Engineers have received communications from the Juno spacecraft, and its solar arrays have deployed.