Q&A with Carol Raymond, deputy principal investigator on NASA’s Dawn mission

Speeding toward Jupiter at nearly 40 miles per second, NASA’s Juno spacecraft must brave a field of computer-zapping radiation and Jupiter’s tenuous ring of ice and dust particles when it brakes into orbit around the giant planet Monday.

Officials from NASA, Orbital ATK, Wallops Flight Facility and the Commonwealth of Virginia preview Sunday night’s flight of the Antares rocket during the pre-launch news conference held on the eve of liftoff.

A flying drone fitted with counter-rotating blades, on-board autonomy, and a lightweight carbon-fiber fuselage will ride to the Red Planet with NASA’s Mars 2020 mission, officials announced Friday.