Nasa has begun assembling the Juno spacecraft that will examine Jupiter to aid in understanding its origin and evolution.
The assembly, testing and launch operations phase, taking place at a Lockheed Martin centre, and instruments and navigation equipment, will be fitted onto the spacecraft in the next few months.
Juno will have nine scientific instruments to investigate the existence of a solid planetary core, map Jupiter’s intense magnetic field, measure the amount of water and ammonia in the deep atmosphere, and observe the planet’s auroras.
The satellite will use a spinning solar-powered spacecraft design that flies in a highly elliptical polar orbit to avoid most of Jupiter’s high-radiation regions.
Juno will orbit the planet 32 times, flying within 3,000 miles above the planet’s cloud tops in a one-year mission.
The spacecraft, due to lift-off on top of an Atlas V-551 rocket in August 2011, will reach Jupiter in July 2016.
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