Preparing Juno for Environmental Testing
NASA's Juno spacecraft rests atop its rotation fixture awaiting transfer to a shipping crate prior to environmental testing.
The large white square on the spacecraft's right side is the largest of Juno's six microwave radiometer antennas, masked by a protective covering. Four pillar-like thruster assemblies extend vertically above and below the spacecraft. These thrusters will help control Juno's orientation while the spacecraft is in flight.
This image was taken on Sept. 27, 2010, in the high-bay cleanroom at Lockheed Martin Space Systems in Denver, during Juno's assembly process.
NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, manages the Juno mission for the principal investigator, Scott Bolton, of Southwest Research Institute, San Antonio. Lockheed Martin Space Systems is building the spacecraft. The Italian Space Agency, Rome, is contributing an infrared spectrometer instrument and a portion of the radio science experiment.
For more information about Juno visit http://www.nasa.gov/juno.