Five-year mission to Jupiter blasts off
US SPACE agency Nasa has launched a solar-powered spacecraft on a five-year mission to Jupiter.
The robotic explorer, named Juno, blasted off aboard an unmanned rocket yesterday from Cape Canaveral in Florida.
It will take Juno five years to reach the largest planet in the solar system. The probe is powered by three huge panels, a first for a spacecraft intended to roam so far from the sun.
The total mission will cost some $1.1 billion (671m).
Scientists hope to discover the "recipe" for making planets by identifying Jupiter's ingredients. The gas giant is believed by astronomers to be the solar system's oldest planet.
Attached to Juno are three little Lego figures.
They represent the Italian physicist Galileo, who discovered Jupiter's biggest moons; the Roman god Jupiter; and his wife Juno, for whom the spacecraft is named.
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Sunday 27 May 2012
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