Mission to Jupiter, launching Aug. 5

Dan reminded me that NASA's Juno mission to Jupiter is due to launch Friday August 5. If you wish to catch the launch the launch window extends from 11:34 a.m. to 12:33 p.m. EDT.

From the article

• The primary goal of the mission is to understand the origin and evolution of the massive gas planet

Juno is due to reach Jupiter in 2016. The trip will cover an astounding 400-million-miles. Once there Juno will orbit the planet 33 times and come within 3,000 miles of the cloud tops.

Maine residents will get a kick out of this. From the article again:

• CU-Boulder senior Dinesh Costlow of the astrophysical and planetary sciences department is collaborating with the Juno science team by using computer models to simulate the trajectory of the spacecraft through all 33 individual orbits. Costlow now a senior at CU-Boulder is from Auburn, Maine.

Read complete article here