Social media users are welcome to apply for access to a two-day media event culminating in the arrival of NASA's Juno spacecraft in orbit around Jupiter. Up to 25 selected participants in the July 3-4 event will tour, explore and share their experiences from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California.
Writers, vloggers, photographers, educators, students, artists and other curious minds who use social media to engage specific audiences are encouraged to apply.
The attendees who are selected will tour JPL, with an anticipated stop in the Spacecraft Assembly Facility, where test hardware from the Juno mission is on display. They will also meet mission scientists and engineers; and share in the arrival of the Juno spacecraft in orbit around Jupiter, live from the JPL media site. This moment of orbit insertion, during the evening of July 4, is the culmination of the mission's five-year cruise through space, and the beginning of its 18-month voyage of discovery at Jupiter.
Registration is open now and closes at 2 p.m. PDT (5 p.m. EDT) on Wednesday, May 11, 2016. To apply, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/social/juno-orbit-insertion-social
Juno's goal is to understand the origin and evolution of Jupiter. The spacecraft launched Aug. 5, 2011, and will orbit the giant planet more than 30 times, skimming to within 3,100 miles (5,000 kilometers) above the planet's cloud tops every 14 days. During the flybys, Juno will probe beneath the obscuring cloud cover of Jupiter and study its auroras to learn more about the planet's formation, structure, atmosphere and magnetosphere.
Juno's name comes from Roman mythology. The god Jupiter drew a veil of clouds around himself to hide his mischief, and his wife -- the goddess Juno -- was able to peer through the clouds and reveal Jupiter's true nature.
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. Caltech in Pasadena manages JPL for NASA.
Visit these sites for more information about Juno:
Get more information about NASA social media at: