Juno Mission

The Juno mission to Jupiter is one of most ambitious, daring and challenging solar system exploration missions ever conceived. Next to the Sun, Jupiter is the largest object in our solar system. As such, it is both a record and driver of the formation of the planets -- no other object in our solar system can tell us more about the origin of planetary systems. Jupiter's massive gravitational field shaped the dynamical environment in the terrestrial planet region, affecting the timing and growth of Earth as well as the delivery of water and organics to the surface of our planet. Jupiter is the archetype for extra-solar giant planets, and so its formation and evolution of from the gas and icy planetesimals in the proto-planetary nebula illuminates processes of planetary formation throughout the universe. Understanding the details of giant planet formation, structure, composition and powerful magnetospheric environment required a new perspective close up and over the poles of Jupiter -- an orbit never before attempted. Juno was specifically designed for this challenge, entering into the harshest planetary environment known in the solar system. This volume describes the mission design, scientific strategies and instrument payload that enable Juno to peer deep into Jupiter's atmosphere and reveal the fundamental process of the formation and early evolution of our solar system. The Juno instrument teams describe their investigations, which include gravity radio science, microwave radiometers, magnetometers, an infrared imager auroral mapper, an ultraviolet imager and spectrograph, a visible light imager known as JunoCam, low and high energy particle detectors and plasma wave and radio electromagnetic sensors. The volume also includes articles describing a radiation monitoring experiment and the extensive laboratory measurements undertaken to assist with the analysis and interpretation of Juno's pioneering investigation of Jupiter's deep atmosphere. Originally published in Space Science Reviews , Volume 213, Issue 1-4, November 2017