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[jchap]

Well, excluding dealing with General relativity, most orbital mechanics is simple physics invented hundreds of years ago. At worst there are calculations that have to be calculated numerically instead of solved analytically. It in a lot of ways is easier than dealing with aerodynamics, because you don't have air residence and flow and stuff mucking up the calculations. It's why most accidents happen while launching or landing.

What makes it difficult is coordinating the orbital mechanics with all of the other technical aspects on the mission, coding the computer to pull off the manuver automatically, and doing it correct the 1st time knowing that I'd you fail you will destroy a million or possibly billion dollar machine.

The physics is easy the engineering is hard

 

[maquiladora]

Firstly, if you do find something during a later exploration you want to be sure it came from that place and not some earlier contamination. Secondly, there's actually a space law forbidding the contamination of other planets and moons.

Enforced by...

 

[lazygecko]

Don't they have procedures for sterilizing probes before they're sent to space?

 

[KarmaCow]

Don't they have procedures for sterilizing probes before they're sent to space?

Nothing is perfect.

 

[sono]

I think this mission is truly wonderful. I am very happy for them they made it there ok and cannot wait for the science data to start to reach us.

 

[golem]

They dont answer how do they feel about the budget Nasa currently has.
Its none of their business, but It would be awesome if they did say how do they feel.

Still, they give them money, they do the job.

Unfortunately the budget is not so much give NASA a lump sum and let them figure out what to do with it. Funding is very specific and there are a bunch of politics between the Administration and Congress behind what program gets funded vs what doesn't. For example the Administration might request less budget for the SLS while Congress might allocate more because it falls within someone's district. Also Obama doesn't seem to be very much in favor of planetary exploration unfortunately-- thats why people arent ready to give the Administration much credit for getting to Jupiter.

I think what is really missing is a solid proposal for a future roadmap to bigger goals such as sending people to Mars or establishing a base on the Moon. Without an actual vision and program for the future its hard for the public to rally behind goals and convince the branches of government to work together to achieve these breakthroughs. The current NASA administration doesnt seem to be interested in such things however.

 

[Disxo]

Think their mission to Europa required by the congress would be the roadmap they currently need, considering that they also require the sls to do that mission.

I dont know if it is going to turn out well for Nasa but, under pressure, things may move faster :/

 

[FelixOrion]

Stupid question but what about the Mars rover? Didn't that contaminate Mars?

There are some levels of contamination controls (such as heat sterilization, similar to what one might do to laboratory glassware, I suppose), but there's a lot of debate about the effectiveness of these. In some cases they probably just say "Hey, we did the best we could but this is something we need to investigate." There is definitely some simulated evidence that some terrestrial lifeforms could survive on Mars for some period of time, so its definitely a reason for concern, especially as we move towards manned missions.

 

[Disxo]

The upper levels of the atmosphere have life in it, how do they avoid that?

 

[Saganator]

There's a mission to Europa in the works:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Europa_Multiple-Flyby_Mission

They're strongly investigating the possibility of adding a lander to it, but it could drive up the mission cost by as much as $1 billion. That's also without a drill.

Oh no not a billion dollars! I wish money was no real concern when it came to exploring space.

 

[NaM]

No thanks to him.

Ain't that the truth.

 

[abstract alien]

Silly question, but I'm curious if a tardigrade(water bear) could make it on Jupiter, or any other planet. I figure if you can survive naked space, you can make it in a ton of places.

 

[Log4Girlz]

Silly question, but I'm curious if a tardigrade(water bear) could make it on Jupiter, or any other planet. I figure if you can survive naked space, you can make it in a ton of places.

No

 

[B-B-Bomba!]

theoretical space drill

Good name for a band, though. Or an album.

 

[ike_]

The upper levels of the atmosphere have life in it, how do they avoid that?

Hah, that's an interesting question. But I'll bet traveling at upwards of 54 km/s for 5 years, stray space dust does a good job of sandblast dry cleaning the probe. I wonder if they factor that in.

 

[FelixOrion]

The upper levels of the atmosphere have life in it, how do they avoid that?

Hah, that's an interesting question. But I'll bet traveling at upwards of 54 km/s for 5 years, stray space dust does a good job of sandblast dry cleaning the probe. I wonder if they factor that in.

When they launch probes up, it's usually in fairings, which were originally intended for the protection of the probe and aerodynamics, but now double for maintain clean-room levels of decontamination. The fairings generally get discarded once is out of the atmosphere and the probe is in orbit around the Earth, so the probe shouldn't be catching anything specially.

 

[abstract alien]

No

No to Jupiter, or no to anywhere?

 

[Ville Pukema]

https://youtu.be/A2fknqVk2yk?t=105

JOI is not really my genre, but will have to watch more of these videos when available. For science of course

 

[Disxo]

When they launch probes up, it's usually in fairings, which were originally intended for the protection of the probe and aerodynamics, but now double for maintain clean-room levels of decontamination. The fairings generally get discarded once is out of the atmosphere and the probe is in orbit around the Earth, so the probe shouldn't be catching anything specially.

Like ksp!
>.>

 

[FelixOrion]

Like ksp!
>.>

KSP is honestly not too far off from reality about what happens, just in some cases simplified and made easier for the sake of being a game.

 

[Nowy]

I've seen references in this thread and other parts of the internet that if Jupiter was just a little bit bigger, we'd have two Suns. Jupiter would need a lot, a lot, more mass for fusion to start in its core. There is a celestial body called a Brown Dwarf which is like a failed star, a massive object but not quite massive enough to start fusion. Even compared to a Brown Dwarf, Jupiter is tiny and would need a lot more mass.

 

[Disxo]

Nah, I knew that ksp was not too far from reality, just forgot that fairings were actually into the game and can serve that purpose.
Btw, is there any space OT in gaf?

 

[Deleted member 80556]

Nah, I knew that ksp was not too far from reality, just forgot that fairings were actually into the game and can serve that purpose.
Btw, is there any space OT in gaf?

I don't think there is. But if it were there'd be a proportional amount of posts to NASA's budget.

 

[FelixOrion]

Nah, I knew that ksp was not too far from reality, just forgot that fairings were actually into the game and can serve that purpose.
Btw, is there any space OT in gaf?

Not that I'm aware of. There is a catch-all scienceGAF OT but its seems more a community thread for those of us that are researchers or graduate students in science programs.

 

[GK86]

There isn't a space gaf really. I mean, there is a small community of us that are interested, but not sure there would be enough interest for a catch-all space thread. I have thought about making it in the past. Mostly to post pictures coming from Cassini.

 

[Elfforkusu]

There used to be a Space OT, it's probably still floating around.

Spoiler

Hito.

 

[Socreges]

https://youtu.be/A2fknqVk2yk?t=105

JOI is not really my genre, but will have to watch more of these videos when available. For science of course

I didn't know what the hell you were talking about. Then got to the end of the video.

I find it hard to believe that astrophysicists don't watch enough porn to know to avoid JOI

 

[Disxo]

Was just asking, in case It didnt appear in my radar, I certainly feel like small OT's like these will work better than a big Space related one.

 

[blu]

I've seen references in this thread and other parts of the internet that if Jupiter was just a little bit bigger, we'd have two Suns. Jupiter would need a lot, a lot, more mass for fusion to start in its core. There is a celestial body called a Brown Dwarf which is like a failed star, a massive object but not quite massive enough to start fusion. Even compared to a Brown Dwarf, Jupiter is tiny and would need a lot more mass.

Well, that's why we keep piling probes on it.

 

[HellBlazer]

Was just asking, in case It didnt appear in my radar, I certainly feel like small OT's like these will work better than a big Space related one.

It would be cool to have a big space OT that can link to and make people aware of the smaller OTs for specific topics though. All these different OTs can be hard to find unless you're actively searching for a specific one, especially if you don't look at the off-topic side often.

 

[Rabbi_Vole]

I've seen references in this thread and other parts of the internet that if Jupiter was just a little bit bigger, we'd have two Suns. Jupiter would need a lot, a lot, more mass for fusion to start in its core. There is a celestial body called a Brown Dwarf which is like a failed star, a massive object but not quite massive enough to start fusion. Even compared to a Brown Dwarf, Jupiter is tiny and would need a lot more mass.

I'm sick of people constantly shit-talking Jupiter

 

[Megalosaro]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d7/Planets_and_sun_size_comparison.jpg

Is pretty small. Jupiter isn't much bigger than saturn

 

[Robin64]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d7/Planets_and_sun_size_comparison.jpg

Is pretty small. Jupiter isn't much bigger than saturn

God, the sun is so big. Like, I see Earth there next to it and it just boggles the mind how much tinier we are. And yet our sun is also super tiny compared to some other stars out there. Like, how can I even comprehend that? It's just impossible.

 

[danthefan]

Don't they have procedures for sterilizing probes before they're sent to space?

I doubt we have any better sterilisation technique then sending something into space.

 

[danthefan]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d7/Planets_and_sun_size_comparison.jpg

Is pretty small. Jupiter isn't much bigger than saturn

It doesn't look much bigger I guess but its volume is just under twice Saturn and its mass is over three times Saturn. It's a lot bigger really.

 

[Bisnic]

God, the sun is so big. Like, I see Earth there next to it and it just boggles the mind how much tinier we are. And yet our sun is also super tiny compared to some other stars out there. Like, how can I even comprehend that? It's just impossible.

Now imagine that there are some suns in our galaxy that are so big that our actual sun is the size of Earth compared to them.

 

[runningjoke]

Now imagine that there are some suns in our galaxy that are so big that our actual sun is the size of Earth compared to them.

You're off by a bit

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VY_Canis_Majoris#/media/File:Sun_and_VY_Canis_Majoris.svg

 

[catashtrophe]

You're off by a bit

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VY_Canis_Majoris#/media/File:Sun_and_VY_Canis_Majoris.svg

The size difference is just incredible between all the planets and suns.

With Juno be able to take pics of what the surface of Jupiter looks like?

 

[blu]

The size difference is just incredible between all the planets and suns.

With Juno be able to take pics of what the surface of Jupiter looks like?

Wouldn't that be the planet's core?

 

[runningjoke]

The size difference is just incredible between all the planets and suns.

With Juno be able to take pics of what the surface of Jupiter looks like?

Not directly, most of Jupiter is gas. But by measuring the magnetic field and gravity Nasa wants to map Jupiter's structure.

 

[Jezbollah]

The size difference is just incredible between all the planets and suns.

With Juno be able to take pics of what the surface of Jupiter looks like?

Nope. The craft will be more than history due to high temperatures and pressure way before it gets anywhere near a solid surface

 

[GK86]

Link.

As planned, the spacecraft returned to high-rate communications on July 5 and powered up five of its science instruments on July 6. Per the mission plan, the remaining science instruments will be powered up before the end of the month. Juno’s science instruments had been turned off in the days leading up to Jupiter orbit insertion.

The Juno team has scheduled a short trajectory correction maneuver on July 13 to refine the orbit around Jupiter.

"Prior to launch five years ago we planned a date and time for the Jupiter orbit insertion burn and the team nailed it,” said Rick Nybakken, project manager for Juno from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. "We are in our planned 53.4 day orbit. Now we are focusing on preparing for our fourth and final main engine burn, which will put us in our 14-day science orbit on October 19.”

The next time Juno’s orbit carries it close by the planet will be on Aug. 27. The flyby is expected to provide some preliminary science data.

 

[PHOENIXZERO]

I respect NASA's humor in naming the probe Juno.

 

[lazygecko]

I respect NASA's humor in naming the probe Juno.

ESA's JUICE is better.

 

[GK86]

First image post-orbit:

 

[everyday math]

First image post-orbit:

The big red spot is so ridiculously big.

 

[Version 3.0]

I've seen references in this thread and other parts of the internet that if Jupiter was just a little bit bigger, we'd have two Suns. Jupiter would need a lot, a lot, more mass for fusion to start in its core. There is a celestial body called a Brown Dwarf which is like a failed star, a massive object but not quite massive enough to start fusion. Even compared to a Brown Dwarf, Jupiter is tiny and would need a lot more mass.

I've heard that multiple times, too, even in documentaries. But when clarified, "a bit" means something like 50 times more massive. So, not really true.

fake edit: Wikipedia says 75 times.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d7/Planets_and_sun_size_comparison.jpg

Is pretty small. Jupiter isn't much bigger than saturn

Over 3 times more massive, though. Saturn's a lightweight.

 

[jett]

First image post-orbit:

Nice.

I can only imagine/hope they will be taking consecutive pictures of Jupiter as Juno comes back around and gets nearer and nearer...cuz that would just make for a really awesome video.

 

[Ozzy Onya A2Z]

I take it the red circle bits are just artifacts from stitching or compression, right? They're all over the image and it looks a little weird first thinking they're blurred stars when focusing on the planet's shadow.

 

[fallout]

This week's Planetary Radio episode is all about Juno. They've got some good interviews with key scientists and engineers.

I take it the red circle bits are just artifacts from stitching or compression, right? They're all over the image and it looks a little weird first thinking they're blurred stars when focusing on the planet's shadow.

Almost certainly, yeah.