Interactive 360-Degree View of NASA's Juno Mission to Jupiter

On July 4, NASA's Juno spacecraft will plunge into uncharted territory, entering orbit around Jupiter and passing closer than any spacecraft before. To fly along with Juno, click and drag the view on your computer, or move your mobile device up and down and around to explore the entire 360-degree experience. Juno's primary goal is to improve our understanding of Jupiter's formation and evolution. The spacecraft will investigate the planet's origins, interior structure, deep atmosphere, and magnetosphere.

Transcript

00:00:05 Welcome to Jupiter, the largest planet in our solar system -- 300 times more massive than Earth. If it doesn't look impressive from this distance, well..Just wait. We're cruising with NASA's Juno spacecraft. Look around. You can find Jupiter, Juno and the sun. Now we're flying with Juno during one of its more than 30 orbits of Jupiter. Juno's main mission is to learn more about how Jupiter formed

00:00:48 and how the planet works from the outside in. All we can see now are the tops of the clouds, but Juno's sensitive instruments can look deeper-- beneath the clouds and churning storms. Speaking of storms, don't miss the Great Red Spot-- a swirling, crimson-colored vortex twice as wide as Earth. Juno's orbit takes it over the poles and just 3,000 miles above Jupiter's clouds-- closer than any other spacecraft has come before. These close encounters allow Juno to map Jupiter's gravity, magnetic field and water. Turn to see two views of Juno: in regular and X-ray vision.

00:01:46 The three panels are solar arrays, each about 30 feet long. Juno would just fit inside a professional basketball court. Jupiter is so far from the sun, that sunlight here is 25 times weaker than at Earth. See the saucer-shaped antenna on top? That's the main way we communicate with Juno. Below the antenna is "the vault"-- a titanium box to protect Juno's sensitive electronics. Now you're inside the X-ray view of Juno. Look for the round blue and green tanks,

00:02:31 they hold rocket fuel to help Juno adjust course when needed. Look up and see the honeycomb structure of the main antenna. Below the antenna are multicolored boxes, which are electronics in the vault. Looking down, you'll see the bell of the main rocket engine. And while there are no astronauts on board, Juno carries three Lego mini-figures made out of aluminum: the Roman god, Jupiter, the goddess Juno, and the famous astronomer Galileo who in 1610 became the first explorer to turn a telescope toward Jupiter.

00:03:28 What Galileo saw through a telescope, we will explore up close with Juno.