Nasa’s Juno spacecraft was placed into elliptical polar orbit around Jupiter following a five-year, 1.76-billion mile journey.
The flight operations of the Lockheed Martin-built spacecraft were controlled by a joint team at Nasa’s jet propulsion laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California, US, and Lockheed Martin’s Mission Support Area near Denver.
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Lockheed Martin Space Systems director of interplanetary missions Guy Beutelschies said: "540 million miles away, Juno performed a precisely choreographed dance at blazing speeds with the largest, most intense planet in our solar system.
"Since launch, Juno has operated exceptionally well, and the flawless orbit insertion is a testament to everyone working on Juno and their focus on getting this amazing spacecraft to its destination. Nasa now has a science laboratory orbiting Jupiter."
Final commands to prepare Juno for the insertion into orbit were sent to the spacecraft four days ago, thereby putting it into autopilot.
Those commands fired the main engine for a 35min burn, which in turn slowed down the pace of spacecraft by 1,212mph. This enabled the spacecraft to be captured by Jupiter’s gravity and then positioned into a large elliptical polar orbit around the planet, which is initially 53 days long.
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By GlobalDataIn the next few months, the orbit will be reduced to 14 days for science observations.
By performing an in-depth study of the Jupiter, the Juno mission aims to improve understanding of the formation and evolution of the planet and solar system.
Over the next 20 months, scientists will investigate the planet’s origins, interior structure, deep atmosphere and magnetosphere.
On 5 August 2011, the Juno spacecraft was launched aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V 551 rocket from Cape Canaveral, Florida.
Juno is part of Nasa’s New Frontiers Program, which is managed at Nasa’s Marshall Space Flight Centre in Huntsville, Alabama, for Nasa’s Science Mission Directorate.
