NASA is reportedly preparing an aircraft called the Atlas 5 rocket carrying an automatic robotic explorers on a mission to quickly glide to the center of the planet Jupiter, next week.
The robot, dubbed Juno is scheduled to spend a cycle for a year to enter the radiation belts of Jupiter's deadly. The mission is to achieve a much closer distance to the radiation belts of Jupiter compared to planes that have orbiting spacecraft before, except for Galileo.
On previous missions to Jupiter, Galileo managed to reach a distance closer to the planet's radiation belts. But Galileo only take data during 58 seconds before it finally 'given up' on the pressure and intense heat from Jupiter.
The purpose of this mission is to find out how much water in the giant planets, as well as what triggers the vast magnetic fields and solid core is located under the heat of the atmosphere.
"Jupiter holds the key to many secrets about how we are formed," said Scott Bolton's lead scientist, Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio, Texas.
Scientists also believe that the planet Jupiter was first formed after the sun, although it is not known exactly how it happened. One key piece of data that is missing is how much water inside the planet Jupiter.
Jupiter just as the sun, especially the content of hydrogen and helium, with a sprinkling of other elements, like oxygen. The scientists believe the oxygen bonded with hydrogen to form water. This can be measured with a microwave sounder, one of eight science instruments that exist in Juno.
Water content contained on Jupiter is directly related to where and how the planets formed. This shows some evidence for a planet that grows under cold-region of the solar system and then migrate into it. Other computer models also show that Jupiter formed around the current location by collecting snowballs ancient ice.
"That is why it is very exciting for us, if we want to look at history and understand where we came from and how the planets were formed. Juno made by NASA could help us knowing it," added Bolton, told Reuters on Thursday, July 28, 2011.
Travel Juno to Jupiter will last for five years and is expected to arrive in July 2016. Juno will infuse itself into the narrow area between the planets and the inside edge of the radiation belts. This solar-powered robotic explorers will spend time throughout the year during the polar orbiting Jupiter, with a distance of 3100 miles above the cloud tops.
Juno Launch is scheduled on 5 August. A spacecraft built by Lockheed Martin Astronautics of Denver, Colorado. As a second mission in the expedition to the lower cost incurred NASA, which is $ 1, 1 billion.
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