SWRI – Page 7 – Spaceflight Now

With Juno on Jupiter’s doorstep, Hubble eyes glowing Jovian auroras

June 30, 2016 Stephen Clark

Peering a half-billion miles across the solar system, the Hubble Space Telescope has caught a glimpse of brilliant auroras flashing over Jupiter’s north pole as NASA’s Juno orbiter speeds toward the gas giant for a close-up look.

Juno’s British-built engine readied for all-important firing at Jupiter

June 29, 2016 Stephen Clark

Ground controllers pressurized the Juno spacecraft’s propulsion system Tuesday to prep for a July 4 rocket firing by the probe’s UK-made rocket engine that will steer the spinning, solar-powered robot into orbit around Jupiter.

Jupiter and its satellites seen by ‘people’s camera’ on Juno probe

June 25, 2016 Stephen Clark

The visible camera on NASA’s Juno spacecraft is capturing a time-lapse movie of Jupiter and its four largest moons as the orbiter dives toward the giant planet for a July 4 rendezvous, and officials have released a first taste of the views armchair scientists and space enthusiasts can anticipate over the coming weeks and months.

Juno right on target for July 4 rendezvous with Jupiter

June 23, 2016 Stephen Clark

NASA’s Juno spacecraft, running on solar power more than 500 million miles from the sun, is on final approach for a Fourth of July arrival at Jupiter for a year-and-a-half campaign of exploration.

Timeline of Juno’s historic arrival at Jupiter

June 23, 2016 Stephen Clark

NASA’s Juno spacecraft must complete a carefully-planned sequence of events as it closes in on Jupiter for a make-or-break orbit insertion burn July 4.

Q&A with Scott Bolton, principal investigator on NASA’s Juno mission

June 4, 2016 Stephen Clark

Scott Bolton of the Southwest Research Institute leads the science team on NASA’s Juno mission, a robotic spacecraft now on final approach to Jupiter designed to probe the giant world’s deep interior and unravel how the solar system’s king planet formed.

See the highest-resolution snapshots from July’s Pluto flyby

December 4, 2015 Stephen Clark

Scientists are marveling at some of the best views of Pluto recorded by the New Horizons spacecraft during its July 14 flyby of the unexplored icy dwarf in a set of photos released Friday showing Pluto’s icy, rugged topography in eye-popping detail.

NASA probe finds intriguing ice flows under hazy skies on Pluto

July 26, 2015 Stephen Clark

Images obtained during the New Horizons spacecraft’s July 14 encounter with Pluto show apparent glacial ice flows wrapping around barrier islands and towering mountain ranges, all under a haze layer suspended up to 100 miles above the distant world’s frozen surface.

Scientists thrilled with mountains on Pluto, chasms on Charon

July 15, 2015 William Harwood

Images from NASA’s New Horizons probe show Pluto is a surprisingly active world in the deep freeze of the outer solar system, with jagged 11,000-foot-high mountains of frozen water dusted with a veneer of nitrogen, methane and carbon monoxide ice amid smooth plains and jumbled terrain.

Cliffs, chasms and craters revealed in latest New Horizons images

July 13, 2015 Stephen Clark

The first hints of dramatic cliffs, chasms and craters are showing up in new imagery of Pluto and its Texas-sized moon Charon as NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft prepares to bolt by the icy worlds Tuesday.