Fastest-Ever Spacecraft to Arrive at Jupiter Tonight

Space.com ^ | July 4, 2016 07:00am ET | Mike Wall,

[BenLurkin]

As Juno nears Jupiter tonight, the giant planet's powerful gravity will accelerate the spacecraft to an estimated top speed of about 165,000 mph (265,000 km/h) relative to Earth, mission team members said.

"I don't think we've had any human[-made] object that's moved that fast, that's left the Earth," Juno principal investigator Scott Bolton, of the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio, said during a news conference last week.

The all-time speed record is currently held by NASA's Helios 1 and Helios 2 spacecraft, which launched in the mid-1970s to study the sun. Both probes reached top speeds of about 157,000 mph (253,000 km/h) at their points of closest approach to Earth's star.

For perspective: Bullets cut through the air at about 1,700 mph (2,735 km/h), and the International Space Station zooms around Earth at 17,500 mph (28,160 mph).

Indeed, Juno will be moving a bit too fast for its own good tonight. To slow down enough to be captured into Jupiter orbit, the probe must slam on the brakes, which it will do by firing its main engine for 35 minutes, beginning at 11:18 p.m. EDT (0318 GMT) tonight.

[al baby]

Nope and apparently if you have a lift off that last longer than four hours one needs to call a doctor

[PIF]

From the article:
“The $1.1 billion Juno mission launched in August 2011. The solar-powered probe is equipped with nine science instruments, which it will use to map the gravitational and magnetic fields of Jupiter and characterize the planet’s interior structure, among other tasks.

“Juno’s observations should help researchers better understand how Jupiter formed and evolved, mission team members have said.”

snip

“The real scientific action, however, doesn’t start until October. On Oct. 19, Juno will perform another engine burn to shift into a science orbit, a highly elliptical 14-day loop that will take the probe within 3,100 miles (5,000 kilometers) of the Jovian cloudtops at closest approach.

“Juno will then take Jupiter’s measure over the course of more than 30 orbits before ending its life with an intentional death dive into the planet’s atmosphere in February 2018. This final maneuver is designed to ensure that no Earth microbes contaminate the ocean-harboring Jupiter moon Europa, which astrobiologists regard as one of the solar system’s best bets to host alien life.”

[stanne]

That is ludicrous.

[alexander_busek]

Nobody can, because parsec is a measure of angular separation, not of time. That has always annoyed me.

False. A parsec ("parallax second") is a measurement of distance - just like a light-year. In fact, a parsec is approx. 3.26 light-years.

It is based upon the fact that, in the course of six months, an object 3.26 light-years distant from Earth has an apparent displacement in position of one angular second in the sky - due to the Earth's revolving around the Sun, i.e., due to the parallax effect.

Regards,

[StAnDeliver]

[ctdonath2]

The term you’re looking for is “head canon”: an explanation that makes complete sense to you, even if it’s not official.

[Vince Ferrer]

That used to bug me, too, but there is an explanation. In the Star Wars fictional universe, the Kessel run involves going through an area with a cluster of black holes that warp space. Depending on the path through the cluster, the distance differs. Only a really powerful hyperdrive permits one to take the shorter paths without getting sucked into a black hole. Thus, the distance for the Kessel run is shorthand for how powerful your ship’s hyperdrive is.

Not sure if this is cannon though.

The explanation is that the writer didn't know what he was talking about and had to make something up later when people pointed out his flaw.

[Verginius Rufus]

Juno has long known about her husband’s affairs, but what happens when she gets there and finds that he keeps a number of his paramours in orbit around him constantly? She’ll blow a gasket.

[Verginius Rufus]

Juno has long known about her husband’s affairs, but what happens when she gets there and finds that he keeps a number of his paramours in orbit around him constantly? She’ll blow a gasket.

[larryjohnson]

Helios was. German European space agency mission, not NASA. They were launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. Launch complex 41 by an AF Titan IIIE booster with a NASA centaur upper stage.

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks BenLurkin, extra to APoD.

[martin_fierro]

Damn few things faster’n yo’ mama.

[Jack Hydrazine]

NASA JUNO: Mission To Jupiter Real Time Simulation
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Uayu5LvdTk

[NCC-1701]

Juno

[rarestia]

I think it’s a testament to the number crunching capabilities of our modern computers more than anything else. The ability to launch a device from the Earth, get it into orbit, and sling it across the solar system with the help of gravity takes a lot of very precise math.

[piytar]

You’re probably - nah definitely - correct!