WASHINGTON (Sputnik) – Juno was built by the Denver-based Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company. The Juno mission is part of the New Frontiers Program managed by NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama.
"The spacecraft, which will reveal the story of the formation and evolution of the planet Jupiter, will enter into orbit around the gas giant that [July 4] evening, five years after leaving Earth," NASA said on Friday.
Juno will make two 53-day elliptical laps around Jupiter, before beginning the mission's science phase, according to NASA.
"Jupiter lies in the harshest radiation environment in our solar system, so this particular spacecraft orbit insertion will mark a new achievement in planetary exploration," NASA explained.
