Mission Elapsed Time:
694 Days (1.91 years) 10 Hours 17 Minutes
Time to Earth Flyby Gravity Assist:
101 Days (3.4 months)16 Hours 45 Minutes
Time of Jupiter Arrival:
3 years 6 days 23 Hours 50 Minutes
As of June 21, Juno was approximately 50 million miles (80 million kilometers) from Earth. The one-way radio signal travel time between Earth and Juno is currently about 4.5 minutes. Juno is currently traveling at a velocity of about 19 miles (30 kilometers) per second relative to the sun, and increasing. Velocity relative to Earth is about 1.6 miles (2.6 kilometers) per second. Juno has now traveled 785 million miles (1.26 billion kilometers) since launch. The Juno spacecraft is in excellent health and is operating nominally as it cruises toward its Oct. 9 Earth flyby gravity assist maneuver.
Juno’s Position and Course 6/29/13
Recent spacecraft significant events:
As of May 29, Juno has entered the phase of its mission titled "Inner Cruise 3," in which it has switched from its high-data-rate High Gain Antenna to its suite of lower data rate antennas. The magnetometer experiment remains powered on at low data rates, with all other science instruments currently powered off. Inner Cruise 3 lasts through Nov. 2013 and includes the Earth flyby.
Juno's Communications Antennas: The Juno spacecraft has five antennas, including the largest and primary communication antenna, known as the high-gain antenna (HGA). Four other antennas can be used as backups, or when the main antenna is pointed away from Earth, for certain science operations and navigation maneuvers.
The solar-powered Juno spacecraft and its saucer-shaped high-gain antenna (or HGA) always point sunward, but while Juno is in the inner solar system, Earth’s position on the sky shifts dramatically. Earth’s movement means that Juno cannot always use its HGA and benefit from its high data rate connection. For this reason, the spacecraft has a suite of antennas that allow communications with Earth from other angles, but at the cost of lower data rates, resulting in a reduction in Juno’s ability to transmit science data during that time. Juno’s science instruments will be powered on again shortly before the Earth flyby, slated for Oct. 9.
Juno’s Main Engine Covered
Juno’s mission ops team performed a flush of the spacecraft’s main engine on May 1, firing the engine for a couple of seconds. The team does this maintenance activity about once per year to flush contaminants from the propellant lines that feed the main engine.
