NASA's Juno Spacecraft to Kick into Planned Autopilot for July 4 Jupiter Burn

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NASA's Juno Spacecraft to Kick into Planned Autopilot for July 4 Jupiter Burn
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
June 30, 2016

At about 12:15 pm PDT today (3:15 p.m. EDT), mission controllers will
transmit command product "ji4040" into deep space, to transition the solar-powered
Juno spacecraft into autopilot. It will take nearly 48 minutes for the
signal to cover the 534-million-mile (860-million-kilometer) distance
between the Deep Space Network Antenna in Goldstone, California, to the
Juno spacecraft. While sequence ji4040 is only one of four command products
sent up to the spacecraft that day, it holds a special place in the hearts
of the Juno mission team.

"Ji4040 contains the command that starts the Jupiter Orbit insertion sequence,"
said Ed Hirst, mission manager of Juno from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory
in Pasadena, California. "As soon as it initiates -- which should be in
less than a second -- Juno will send us data that the command sequence
has started."

When the sequence kicks in, the spacecraft will begin running the software
program tailored to carry the solar-powered, basketball court-sized spacecraft
through the 35-minute burn that will place it in orbit around Jupiter.

"After the sequence executes, Juno is on autopilot," said Hirst. "But
that doesn't mean we get to go home. We are monitoring the spacecraft's
activities 24/7 and will do so until well after we are in orbit."

Also today, NASA announced a collaboration with Apple that will serve
to enhance the agency's efforts to inform and excite the public about
dramatic missions of exploration like Juno. "Destination: Juno" is a synergy
between two seemingly disparate worlds: popular music and interplanetary
exploration. The works resulting from this collaboration showcase exploratory
sounds from artists who have been inspired by Juno and other NASA missions,
including Brad Paisley, Corinne Bailey Rae, GZA, Jim James featuring Lydia
Tyrell, QUIÑ, Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross, Weezer and Zoé.

Apple has captured moments in this journey with a behind-the-scenes documentary
spearheaded by the Juno mission's principal investigator, Scott Bolton,
and scored by Academy Award winners Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross. The
content is available on various Apple platforms. Other Juno-related content,
including educational opportunities with Bill Nye on and an "Interactive
Guide to NASA's Juno Mission," will roll out over the course of a year
and throughout the length of the Juno mission.

The Juno spacecraft launched on Aug. 5, 2011, from Cape Canaveral, Florida.
JPL manages the Juno mission for the principal investigator, Scott Bolton,
of Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio. Juno is part of NASA's
New Frontiers Program, which is managed at NASA's Marshall Space Flight
Center in Huntsville, Alabama, for NASA's Science Mission Directorate.
Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver, built the spacecraft. The California
Institute of Technology in Pasadena, California, manages JPL for NASA.

More information on the Juno mission is available at:

http://www.nasa.gov/juno

The public can follow the mission on Facebook and Twitter at:

http://www.facebook.com/NASAJuno

http://www.twitter.com/NASAJuno

News Media Contact
Dwayne Brown / Laurie Cantillo
NASA Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1726 / 202-358-1077
dwayne....@nasa.gov / laura.l....@nasa.gov

DC Agle
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
818-393-9011
ag...@jpl.nasa.gov

2016-170