This Fourth of July, NASA’s solar-powered Juno spacecraft will arrive at Jupiter after an almost five-year journey. News briefings, photo opportunities and other media events will be held at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, and air live on NASA Television and the agency’s website.
In the evening of July 4, Juno will perform a suspenseful orbit insertion maneuver, a 35-minute burn of its main engine, to slow the spacecraft by about 1,212 mph (542 meters per second) so it can be captured into the gas giant’s orbit. Once in Jupiter’s orbit, the spacecraft will circle the Jovian world 37 times during 20 months, skimming to within 3,100 miles (5,000 kilometers) above the cloud tops. This is the first time a spacecraft will orbit the poles of Jupiter, providing new answers to ongoing mysteries about the planet’s core, composition and magnetic fields.
NASA TV Events Schedule
For all media briefings, reporters may ask questions by phone by contacting Gina Fontes at 818-354-9380 or georgina.d.fontes@jpl.nasa.gov.
Thursday, June 16
2 p.m. EDT (11 a.m. PDT) — Mission status briefing at NASA Headquarters in Washington
Thursday, June 30
1 p.m. EDT (10 a.m. PDT) — Mission overview news briefing at JPL
2 p.m. EDT (11 a.m. PDT) — Mission outreach briefing at JPL
Monday, July 4 — Orbit Insertion Day
Noon EDT (9 a.m. PDT) — Pre-orbit insertion briefing at JPL
10:30 p.m. EDT (7:30 p.m. PDT) — Orbit insertion and NASA TV commentary begin
Tuesday, July 5
1 a.m. EDT (10 p.m. PDT on July 4) — Post-orbit insertion briefing at JPL
To watch all of these events online, visit:
Live coverage on orbit insertion day also will be available online via Facebook Live at:
http://www.facebook.com/nasajpl
Accreditation
To cover these events from JPL, media must apply for accreditation with the JPL Media Relations Office. The deadline for U.S. citizens and green card holders representing U.S. media outlets is Saturday, June 4. The deadline for foreign nationals and representatives of foreign media has passed.
To apply for accreditation, send the following information to jplmediacredentials@jpl.nasa.gov: full name (as on driver’s license), title, phone number and work email; country of citizenship; media outlet name, address, phone number and website; and editor’s name, phone number and work email. Also, if you are not a U.S. citizen, you must specify whether you are green card holder.
Beginning June 30, media credentials may be picked up at JPL Visitor Reception, located at 4800 Oak Grove Dr., between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. PDT. On July 4, operating hours are 8 a.m. to midnight. U.S. media must present a valid form of identification, with a photo, to obtain credentials. Non-U.S. citizens must present a passport and visa or permanent resident alien registration card.
JPL Tours
On June 30 and July 1, tours are available to media at JPL of the Juno mission control area. Space is limited and will be filled on a first-come, first-served basis. Media wishing to join a tour must have a JPL media credential and must make a reservation with the JPL Media Relations Office at 818-354-5011, or sign up in person at the JPL Newsroom.
Resources
An uninterrupted, clean feed of cameras from JPL mission control, with mission audio only, will be available on the NASA TV Media Channel and NASA’s Ustream channel at:
http://www.ustream.tv/nasajpl2
B-roll for the Juno mission is available for download at:
JPL manages the Juno mission for NASA. The mission’s principal investigator is Scott Bolton of Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio. The mission is part of NASA’s New Frontiers Program, managed at the agency’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate. Lockheed Martin Space Systems in Denver built the spacecraft.
Learn more about the June mission, and get an up-to-date schedule of events, at:
https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/jupiter/junotoolkit
Follow the mission on social media at:
http://www.facebook.com/NASAJuno
http://www.twitter.com/NASAJuno
For NASA TV streaming video, schedule and downlink information, visit:
