Nasa’s spacecraft Juno has glided through the clouds of Jupiter in a record-breaking close approach to the giant planet so far.
According to a tweet by the agency Juno successfully completed it’s closest ever fly-by to the planet. This is the first of 36 such moves, which are scheduled to end in February 2018. Juno is the first spacecraft that has orbited so close to Jupiter. Although two others were sent, they were destroyed while plunging to its atmosphere.
Juno is a part of Nasa’s New Frontiers programme of robotic space missions. They were able to get the close-up views of dwarf planet Pluto last year.
First time for a robotic space mission, Juno actually is carrying passengers to the space. The three Lego figures made of aluminium depicted the three famous characters: 17th-century Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei, the Roman god Jupiter, and the deity Jupiter’s wife, Juno.
Lego figures were made out of aluminium rather than the usual plastic so they could withstand the extreme conditions of space flight and complete the mission. By installing these Lego characters in the spacecraft, Nasa aims to encourage children to take up interest in science and technology and astronomy and inspire the next generation of spacecraft engineers.
Tragically, these Lego figures are on a suicide mission. Juno, along with its three passengers will meet its end in 2018 when it will eventually dive into Jupiter's atmosphere and disintegrate itself. This is a necessary sacrifice so that the spacecraft does not crash into the planet's potentially habitable moons accidentally.
Juno also includes a plaque dedicated to Galileo from the Italian Space Agency on board.
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