The Juno Mission

Juno is the next NASA New Frontiers mission which will launch in August 2011. The mission is a solar powered spacecraft scheduled to arrive at Jupiter in 2016 and be placed into polar orbit around Jupiter. The goal of the Juno mission is to explore the origin and evolution of the planet Jupiter. Juno's science themes include (1) origin, (2) interior structure, (3) atmospheric composition and dynamics, and (4) polar magnetosphere and aurora. A total of nine instruments on-board provide specific measurements designed to investigate Juno's science themes. The primary objective of investigating the origin of Jupiter includes 1) determine Jupiter's internal mass distribution by measuring gravity with Doppler tracking, 2) determine the nature of its internal dynamo by measuring its magnetic fields with a magnetometer, and 3) determine the deep composition (in particular the global water abundance) and dynamics of the sub-cloud atmosphere around Jupiter, by measuring its thermal microwave emission.