Scott Bolton – Astronomy Now

Engine trouble keeping Juno in elongated orbit until December

18 October 2016 Stephen Clark

Ground teams are buying more time to study two sluggish valves inside the Juno spacecraft’s fuel pressurization system and postponing a major engine burn that was scheduled for this week to reshape the probe’s orbit around Jupiter.

NASA’s Juno spacecraft closing in on Jupiter for 4 July orbit insertion

25 June 2016 Astronomy Now

On 4 July, NASA will fly a solar-powered spacecraft the size of a basketball court within 2,900 miles of the cloud tops of our solar system’s largest planet, Jupiter. Over the past two weeks, several milestones occurred that were key to a successful 35-minute burn of its rocket motor, which will place the robotic explorer into a polar orbit around the gas giant.