Juno Enters Jupiter's Orbit

Just a few minutes before midnight last night, the signal finally came back from the Juno spacecraft indicating that the 35 minute engine burn was complete – Juno was now in Jupiter’s orbit. Over the next year and a half, Juno will orbit the gas giant and provide data that should give scientists insight into the composition and formation of the gas giant as well as the creation of the early solar system.

We take these satellite investigations of our solar system for granted these days, but just reflect on the technological scope of what Juno has accomplished. It has taken 5 years and traveled nearly 2 billion miles in order just to get to Jupiter and then slowed itself down enough to be captured in the planet’s orbit. And it did the journey on solar power.