Juno, the armoured probe

 

NASA’s next mission to Jupiter, the Juno probe is currently being assembled at Lockheed Martin in Denver, Colorado, and has just received a rare element in a field where every gram counts. This is a 1cm thick titanium protective shield to protect its electronics. Indeed, during its 15 month long mission, Juno will orbit inside the radiation belts of the giant planet, in an extremely hostile environment. The electrons, protons and ions that make up these belts are carried along by the planet’s super-fast rotation up to nearly the speed of light.  In total, the probe will be subject to a radiation dose equivalent to “over 100 million dental x-rays” according to Bill McAlpine, the mission’s Radiation Control Manager based at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California.

The armoured vault protecting the probe’s electronics – still open at the top – has been installed on top of the propulsion module. Credit: NASA, JPL-Caltech, LMSS.

Juno’s launch is planned for August 2011, reaching Jupiter’s orbit in July 2016.  Juno will then have broken the record as the probe to operate furthest from the Sun, using solar panels to supply its energy, which was recently set by the European probe Rosetta.  Until now power for all the probes flying past or orbiting Jupiter has been supplied by radioisotope thermal generators.