Jupiter-bound space probe captures Earth and Moon

humbling? For nothing more than a piece of dust it's pretty hard to pay that phone bill or the mortgage.The smallness of the Earth is really what I am thinking when I am flying from Dallas to Shanghai. Don't get me wrong.. it's awesome...But humbling... Comparing myself to MLK would be humbling.. Jupiter might me jealous of our.. I don't know life... Sorry, I might offend anyone who wants to throw in that Jupiter's gravity has saved us from countless collisions with incoming crap...

reply to post by Illustronic


Very cool and enlightening post. Sorry your thread wasn't successful, I would have been interested if I had seen it.

reply to post by jessejamesxx


No worries I'm enjoying this thread as I enjoy discussing the topic more than accumulating ATS points. I'm also happy I have time off work to participate, but I should be doing other things.

the gas that leaves a spacecraft thruster pushes the craft in the opposite direction

It isn't the gas being expelled from the back that pushes the rocket forwards. It's the equal and opposite force of expanding gas pushing against the upper hemisphere of the combustion chamber that provides the necessary thrust.

Originally posted by Mogget

the gas that leaves a spacecraft thruster pushes the craft in the opposite direction

It isn't the gas being expelled from the back that pushes the rocket forwards. It's the equal and opposite force of expanding gas pushing against the upper hemisphere of the combustion chamber that provides the necessary thrust.

edit on 1-9-2011 by Mogget because: (no reason given)

Yes, you're right, I was just trying to make it as simple as possible and in the process I may have over-simplified things a bit.

Funny thing, O'l Bluecoat, (www.abovetopsecret.com...) said he was going to send back pictures of Earth from way out, he also mentioned the break-up of Elenin. O'l Bluecoat is not so soft, although of course he is quite mad!

reply to post by timewalker


What does that have to do with importance of an object?

reply to post by timewalker

Ah yes the Hubble Deep Field. If the light of a distant star is bent ever so slightly around a closer star, then is it not possible we are looking all the way back at ourselves? In a round about way? That maybe the Universe is not as deep or populated as it appears? Like holding two mirrors at narrow angles to each other. The images produced appear to go on forever. I hope not and that I'm just ignorant of such things. I do so want the Universe to be eternal distance and time wise. Somebody please squash this question of mine...

reply to post by timewalker


Fascinating... I watched the launch and am eagerly awaiting data and many many pics of our Jovian Overlord. I have a request. Somebody tell them to point that penetrating radar at the Great Red Spot and see if there is not a "moonatesimal" in there, developing, growing, absorbing the mass of Jupiter's upper atmospheric elements.

What if, and I say that quietly, what if the Gas Giants give birth, as it were, to at least some of their moons? Has anyone ever considered this before? Does Io have the same spectrum as Jupiters? Doesn't Io absorb dust from Jupiter's cloud tops? Is Io's orbit growing ever so slightly as it's mass increases? Is the Great Red Spot moving towards the equator ever so slightly? How come the storm doesn't seem to behave like other storms on Jupiter?

I submitted this question some months ago to Goddard and Nasa, but never received a reply.I don't know if this has been dismissed as a possibility or not. I have not heard this discussed personally so I thought I would put myself on front street about it here. Crush my ignorance gently please.

reply to post by timewalker


Looks like the thing is working. Escape velocity is 17,500 mph... How fast is it going now? After it receives gravity assist, how fast will it be moving (relative) when it arrives at Jupiter?

Now Dorothy, click your heels together and repeat after me. There's no place like home, there's no place like home.

reply to post by timewalker


I find that image very humbling, almost to the point that I used to feel when I would be sitting on the fantail of my ship at 2 am on a moonless night staring up at the vastness of the sky with no man made lights to distract from viewing the stars. It is at times like that that I wonder at the arrogance of many people who think that we are the only "intelligent" life in the universe.

Peace to all

reply to post by intrptr


17,500 mph is the speed necessary to reach stable earth orbit, to escape earth orbit (escape velocity) a craft needs to get to 24,500 mph. I've been looking for speed data on the JUNO craft, I'll have to dig more since most of the data only talks of it's maximum speed right before the main thrust to slow it to enter Jupiter's orbit, of which will make it the fastest manmade craft, due to the gravitational pull of Jupiter. JUNO will enter Jupiter orbit just 3,100 miles above the cloud tops.

JUNO will approach Jupiter at a speed of 160,000 mph (two sources claim 150,000 mph but the JUNO site states 160,000 mph), trailing from behind its orbital path around the sun, catching up to Jupiter, which is only traveling 29,200 mph in its orbital path, JUNO will expel it's greatest reverse thrust of the entire mission to slow it down.

More numbers as I find them.

I believe I recall it will be October 2013 JUNO will swing around earth which is traveling at about 66,600 mph around the sun, at a distance of only 300 miles to get its slingshot gravity boost to arc out to Jupiter's orbit. Flight path movie earlier in this thread.

ngchunter tracking JUNO states a speed of 25,875.9 mph at Centaur booster cutoff, which I have no reason to question.

The New Horizons spacecraft heading to Pluto is stated to have the fastest earth escape velocity. Launched in January 2006, Earth-relative velocity of about 16.26 km/s (58,536 km/h; 36,373 mph). New Horizons received a Jupiter gravity assist on February 28, 2007 to increase its speed by 8,900 mph to 51,000 mph relative to the sun, 21 km/s (47,000 mph) relative to Jupiter.

Gotta love the fractal universe.....

reply to post by intrptr


Way too many questions to answer unequivocally due largely to the radiation field of Io and Jupiter that is extremely harmful to spacecrafts, not to mention cancelled Jovian moon space probes that were to collect data about some of these mysteries.

What if, and I say that quietly, what if the Gas Giants give birth, as it were, to at least some of their moons?

Jupiter's extreme gravity obviously created many of its moons during accretion, and may have captured some of its moons. I don't think that is what you are suggesting though. A solid core in Jupiter is not proven but it is largely 75% hydrogen and 25% helium, it's moons are terrestrial.

What if, and I say that quietly, what if the Gas Giants give birth, as it were, to at least some of their moons? Has anyone ever considered this before?

Highly unlikely due to the elemental constitutes.

Does Io have the same spectrum as Jupiters?

No. EUV spectral analysis taken from the Cassini spacecraft

Doesn't Io absorb dust from Jupiter's cloud tops?

Data suggests quite the contrary, Jupiter's massive magnetosphere (the largest structure in the solar system) strips the atmosphere from Io.

Is Io's orbit growing ever so slightly as it's mass increases?

Research suggests it's orbit is stable is the short answer, for extended research see this study.
There is no data that suggests Io is growing in mass.

Is the Great Red Spot moving towards the equator ever so slightly?

The Great Red Spot moves and rotates around Jupiter, and has been observed to have been there since the late 1600's. Has been measured to orbit Jupiter in 4 days. However the red spot is unique in that it rotates in a retrograde direction that the other storms*. (*from memory so I could be wrong).

How come the storm doesn't seem to behave like other storms on Jupiter?

White storms on Jupiter suggest a higher altitude, brown storms are at lower altitudes, and the great red storm is lower yet. Other storms have appeared and vanished as large as the great red spot, other storms have lasted centuries. There is a myriad of data and speculation on the storms of Jupiter.

These questions can create several threads by themselves, I just thought I'd interject some Cliff Notes, though you might think I tote the company line so to speak. Interesting topics nonetheless.

god we're small, but we are 'stardust' after all

Sometimes its good to just stop and ponder how massive this thing we call a "universe" really is....or how much we don't know.

The only thing I can say for certain is that we're just a microcosm of the celestial dance taking place light years above us

reply to post by Illustronic

Wow... thank you for that reply. Your breakdown of Juno mechanics was wonderful. So... our gobot is currently moving at @ 8 miles per second. Peeeooooowww !!! And will need to wander the solar system for a while before receiving that added gravity assist from Earth in 2013. Juno is actually going to come back for another pass at us before final Jupiter approach. Then swing way out with ever increasing velocity (160,000 mph???) , begin reverse thrusting against Jupiter's pull until it alights 3100 miles above the Jovian cloud tops. Absolutely Man Made Tastic ! Well, computers helped some what. I guess Aero braking like 2010 is a Hollywood concept.

160,000 mph. As I recall even one of the Voyager spacecraft is only doing 70,000 mph (from memory), so this is a new record for a man made object.

reply to post by Illustronic


Fascinating... Thanks for the breakdown in my wonderment. Are you a professor by any chance?
Jupiter is indeed hazardous and hostile. Jupiter generates more radiation than it receives from the sun. I am amazed Earth electronics don't get fried by the build up of that and electromagnetic forces in and about the planet. Recent missions have been fortunate. Makes me skeptical about the penetrative radar and how far it will be able to look "in" before encountering a wall of white noise. Well see. I'll be 60. I also hold out for that moonlet in the Great Red Spot. That radar should be able to resolve that deep. I hope they plan on pointing it that way just for grins and giggles.

When the Shoemaker Levy cometary fragments rained down on Jupiter there were unexpected huge fireballs and special FX the size of Earth . Left me wondering just how dense the upper layers of atmosphere are.

reply to post by intrptr


From what I read some time ago, JUNO's electronics vault will last about 32 highly elliptical Jupiter orbits before they get fried. Here is some text on that below.

Electronics Vault

Juno will avoid Jupiter's highest radiation regions by approaching over the north, dropping to an altitude below the planet's radiation belts – which are analogous to Earth’s Van Allen belts, but far more deadly – and then exiting over the south. To protect sensitive spacecraft electronics, Juno will carry the first radiation shielded electronics vault, a critical feature for enabling sustained exploration in such a heavy radiation environment. This feature of the mission is relevant to NASA's Vision for Space Exploration, which addresses the need for protection against harsh radiation in space environments beyond the safety of low-Earth orbit.

Protection I think is 1 inch thick titanium.