Successful Launch to Jupiter
August 18, 2011
On 5 August 2011, NASA’s Juno spacecraft successfully launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida. The collective cheers of many SESDA II staff could be heard throughout the Goddard campus as it lifted off, a result of the many years of preparation and testing our programmers, instrument engineers, data technicians, and even summer interns had spent reaching this important milestone. Working on Juno’s Magnetic Field Experiment (MAG), our team was responsible for the design, fabrication, and testing of instrument subcomponents as well as the MAG’s integration with the spacecraft. Going forward, we’ll support the development of the Ground Data System used to communicate with, and process data from, the MAG experiment, generating maps of Jupiter’s incredibly strong magnetic field and providing new insight into the dynamics of its interior.
