Juno Extended Mission, Perijove 34-76 |
Juno Extended Mission, Perijove 34-76 |
Sep 2 2020, 08:05 PM
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Senior Member Group: Moderator Posts: 3241 Joined: 11-February 04 From: Tucson, AZ Member No.: 23 |
At today's Outer Planet Assessment Group (OPAG) meeting, Scott Bolton gave a presentation on Juno, providing an update on the mission and providing more information on its extended mission proposal. The proposal has been sent to NASA and they expect a final decision later this year.
The proposed extended mission starts where the current one ends at perijove 34 in June 2021 and continues through orbit 76 in September 2025. The continued northward progression of the perijove latitude, and continued lower altitude of the ascending node, is going to enable a lot of great science both at Jupiter (higher resolution views of Jupiter's poles) and of its satellites. Most excitingly for me, Juno will perform several flybys of the Galilean satellites. This includes a 1000-km encounter with Ganymede next June during PJ34, a 320-km encounter with Europa in late 2022, and TWO Io flybys in early 2024 at an altitude of 1500 km. There are also a number of "Voyager-class" encounters with Ganymede, Europa, and Io between mid-2021 and mid-2025. The PDF for Scott Bolton's presentation can be found on the page for the OPAG meeting: https://www.lpi.usra.edu/opag/meetings/opag2020fall/ -------------------- &@^^!% Jim! I'm a geologist, not a physicist!
The Gish Bar Times - A Blog all about Jupiter's Moon Io |
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Jan 9 2021, 03:21 AM
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Member Group: Members Posts: 241 Joined: 13-October 09 From: Olympus Mons Member No.: 4972 |
Large Swaths of Ganymede may be improved depending on how close it is. Though don't expect anything like Solid State Imaging.
-------------------- "Thats no moon... IT'S A TRAP!"
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Jan 9 2021, 06:01 PM
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 2542 Joined: 13-September 05 Member No.: 497 |
Large Swaths of Ganymede may be improved depending on how close it is. Bolton's presentation to OPAG (linked upthread) said the minimum altitude of the Ganymede flyby was 1000 km, at which Junocam would get ~670 meters/pixel resolution. It's a bit hard to say what the best resolution in the current coverage is, but it's probably better than that in most places, and the gaps are near the north and south poles, which AFAIK won't be seen in this encounter. As I said, we won't know for sure until the final flyby geometry is established. Note that this first Ganymede flyby is in mid-2021. [I guess I should mention that my perspective is obviously Junocam-centric and JIRAM will also get images, which are both higher-resolution and not subject to the limitations of darkness.] -------------------- Disclaimer: This post is based on public information only. Any opinions are my own.
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