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Juno probe spins up its sonic screwdrivers for Jupiter flyby

It's in the pipe, five by five

NASA is firing up the nine scientific instruments on board the Juno probe orbiting Jupiter ahead of its first data collection mission.

The spacecraft successfully went into orbit around the solar system's largest resident on July 4 after a five-year trip and has used some of the instruments already to take pictures as it approaches Jupiter. But now the full set of instruments is being fired up ahead of its first close flyby at the end of August.

"We had to turn all our beautiful instruments off to help ensure a successful Jupiter orbit insertion on July 4," said Scott Bolton, Juno principal investigator from the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio, Texas.

"But next time around we will have our eyes and ears open. You can expect us to release some information about our findings around September 1."

So far the agency reports that five instruments are up and running and the rest should be online soon. Most will remain on for the two-year mission, and possibly beyond, but the JunoCam visual light telescope is expected to die after about six months due to the radioactive and magnetic emissions from Jupiter.

The other instrumentation will be longer lasting. Juno carries two particle detectors, a magnetometer to map the planet's internal magnetic field, two tools to analyze the Jovian aurora, a six-antenna radiometer, an ultraviolet imaging spectrograph, and a tool for measuring gravity via radio waves.

"Prior to launch five years ago, we planned a date and time for the Jupiter orbit insertion burn and the team nailed it," said Rick Nybakken, project manager for Juno from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California.

"We are in our planned 53.4-day orbit. Now we are focusing on preparing for our fourth and final main engine burn, which will put us in our 14-day science orbit on October 19." ®

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