Jupiter Bound Juno snaps Dazzling Gallery of Planet Earth Portraits

During a crucial speed boosting slingshot maneuver around Earth on Oct. 9, NASA’s Jupiter-bound Juno probe snapped a dazzling gallery of portraits of our Home Planet over the South American coastline and the Atlantic Ocean. See our mosaics of land, sea and swirling clouds above and below, including several shown in false color.

But an unexpected glitch during the do or die swing-by sent the spacecraft into ‘safe mode’ and delayed the transmission of most of the raw imagery and other science observations while mission controllers worked hastily to analyze the problem and successfully restore Juno to full operation on Oct. 12 – but only temporarily!

Because less than 48 hours later, Juno tripped back into safe mode for a second time. Five days later engineers finally recouped Juno and it’s been smooth sailing ever since, the top scientist told Universe Today.

“Juno is now fully operational and on its way to Jupiter,” Juno principal investigator Scott Bolton told me today. Bolton is from the Southwest Research Institute (SwRI), San Antonio, Texas. (…)
Read the rest of Jupiter Bound Juno snaps Dazzling Gallery of Planet Earth Portraits (874 words)

© Ken Kremer for Universe Today, 2013. |
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Post tags: Earth, earth flyby, gravity assist, juno, juno earth flyby, juno jupiter, Juno mission, Junocam, Jupiter

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