Tuesday, July 05, 2016

Magnifique!


Amazing, simply amazing! 

I was eagerly following the news from Pasadena yesterday about the Juno probe and was pleased to learn that after 5 years travelling the half a billion kilometres to Jupiter it's (British built) rocket fired for an incredibly precise 35 minute burn slowing the craft down just enough to become captured by Jupiter's crushing gravity and start orbiting this most enigmatic of planets. 

The manoeuvre was successful and Juno is now circling the gas giant once every 50 or so days. In October the little rocket will fire again dropping the craft down to a 14 day orbit only a few thousand kilometres above the swirling clouds of the upper atmosphere, I can't wait to see the high resolution pictures from that stage, a truly magnificent achievement, Galileo would have been gob smacked :)

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